The Adventures: Genesis
by CerberAsta
Summary: Wars end, friends die, and storm clouds eternally loom on the horizon. There is no challenge that can't be overcome and no Adventure that can't be completed.
1. In The Beginning

_**In the Beginning...**_

_**Well, well, well. It's my first time writing in the Crossovers Section of Fanfiction, but its not my first time writing. This is called The Adventures for a reason. Quick history...**_

_**A friend of mine and I would dictate these series of adventures to entertain ourselves. It was originally called The Adventures of (insert numerous characters here) until eventually it was simply called The Adventures. It's primary function is hilarity, although fighting is a close second. It continues even as I write this. **_

_**However, I did take a few creative liberties, but you shan't notice.**_

_**It's a crossover of a lot of games and some cartoons. Kirby was the first that was a main contender with a protagonist called Donokbe. Then, sometime later, there was the short-running series that was the adventures of Klonoa and the crazy cat-catcher who knew cats could talk. Klonoa had been sucked into the real world.**_

_**Then Danny Phantom came to us. And we started that up with two characters, ourselves. It evolved from simply a Danny Phantom knock-off to spiral into an incredibly complex series of adventures, during which our powers changed several times for seemingly no reason.**_

_**I'll chronicle these Adventures to the best of my ability, as much was lost to poor memory, but I did retain most of it. The only bad part is that I suck at humor, which means The Adventures will not be near as funny as they originally were.**_

_**The series/games that are sure to be in here are listed as follows:  
Megaman, Soul Edge/Soul Calibur series, Sonic the Hedgehog, Danny Phantom, Zelda, Lilo & Stitch, Digimon, Luigi's Mansion, American Dragon: Jake Long, Final Fantasy (VII, X, Advent Children), Kingdom Hearts, Kirby, Guyver, ABC Warriors, Pokemon, One Piece, Teen Titans and others.**_

_**There may be others that appear or at least be referenced to. Dragon Ball Z, various songs, Star Wars, and various TV Shows and Games.**_

_**If you don't know about certain characters, look them up on wikipedia (dot) com. Most characters here are original though.**_

_**Only things not original in this chapter:**_

_**Bahamut (Character - Final Fantasy Series)**_

_**Nightmare (Character - Soul Edge/Soul Calibur Series)**_

_**Soul Edge (Weapon - Soul Edge/Soul Calibur Series)**_

_**Soul Calibur (Weapon - Soul Edge/Soul Calibur Series)**_

_**Half-Ghosts (Species - Danny Phantom)**_

_**Pokemon (Species - Pokemon)**_

_**Attack Absorption (Ability - Megaman)**_

_**Ben Ten (Name)**_

_**Mystique (Name)**_

_**BBHK is a reference to the BHK, which Roxas was known as until he was given an official name **_

_**Lyrics from Snap Yah Fingers are briefly mentioned**_

_**There are also a few things in here you may catch. There's one I didn't list. Can anyone guess what it is?**_

_**One final note: If it's boring in this chapter, bear with me. It'll pick up next chapter.**_

_**Now, we begin The Adventures!**_

_Many stories will begin where the heroes start off. But is this a truly good place to start? Should not all Adventures start where the story truly began? _

The Beginning...

First there was chaos. But this chaos formed conscience, an omnipotent being. Eventually, this omnipotent being began creating various universes, until millions were in existence. Unfortunately, several hundred universes combined. It became an Omniverse and a Multiverse. Those universes that did not contribute to it became linked to it, labeling it as a Multiverse.

Because it was such a massive universe, it was given its own Sages. The Shadow Sage became corrupted supposedly and a great schism ensued. Evil was introduced into the universe. Wars broke out and chaos was rising.

Eventually, through the intervention of the Benevolent Sages, heroes were formed and they fought the evil.

Trithe, 300 B.S.M. (Before Star Millennium)

There was one hero, called Everion (Ee Vere Ee On). He was insanely powerful, unbeatable. Because of him, the Omniverse, now called the Celestial System, was rising tremendously in prosperity. Evil was at an all-time low.

But then he made a deal with the devil. It was of no choice of his own, but he was given the True Chaos Emerald. He merged with it in an attempt to purify it, but its evil was too great, and he was corrupted. He became the True Chaos Emerald. Once it was revealed, the lesser Sages created the Chaos Emeralds. The Star Sage created the Star Emerald and the Dragon Sage created the Dragon Emerald. These Emeralds were meant to fight the True Chaos Emerald's horrid power.

Everion became an Alchemist Demon Overlord. He was unstoppable for a time. Then, he set his sights on an incredible race. The Tricrax. Tricrax are beings that are formed from three souls of fallen warriors from various species. Specifically of one Tricrax, Xian.

Xian (Zee In) was incredibly rare to begin with. He was "born" with massive power levels, and he almost died. However, luck was with him as the Star Sage gave him his blessing. When his "parents" (in reality, the spirits DID raise their "child" as they took on a semi-corporeal form) looked into as to why he had so much power, they discovered that he was a Trinity Tricrax. He was a perfect balance in speed, power, and intellect. In good, evil, and neutrality. And because of this, he had insane power levels.

But the Star Blessing sealed his fate. The Star Emerald was steeped in divine power, which was the exact opposite of the Pure Chaos Emerald. Everion despised Xian before he was even on the same planet as him. He took on the shape of a typical Tricrax and infiltrated their ranks under a different name (Ralin) , always being a step ahead of Xian, just so he could torment him.

Xian, despite his incredible power, was a pacifist. He abhorred the thought of war. So when all the various races began moving against the Tricrax species, Everion openly spoke against pacifism, making several speeches on how they should march into battle. He had far more influence than Xian, and summarily got him banned from the planet. And afterwards, Xian confronted him.

Xian's Meeting

"Ralin!" Xian shouted, after Ralin walked out of the Council Chambers.

"Hello, scum of Trithe," Ralin replied, stopping in front of him.

Xian was fairly tall, about 6 and a half feet. He had fairly muscular arms with silver, knight-like armor and a small "cape" on his waist. The cape was actually energy he couldn't contain within himself because he'd overload.

Everion (Ralin), however, was 8 feet tall. He wore slender armor that covered up his entire body except his head and neck, which were angelic in appearance. Over the armor, he had light-gray cape-like clothing.

"Think of me what you will, but you should not be misusing your influence!" Xian raged, appearing actually quite threatening, despite the huge size difference.

"How am I "misusing" my influence, scum?" Ralin asked, his arms crossed, looking rather haughty.

"You are trying to send my people to their death. They are outnumbered 100 to 1!" Xian shouted in annoyance.

"No, Xian. It is you who are misusing your influence. Those other races are too stupid to be reasoned with," Ralin shot back, "War is the only option."

"Bullshit! The Elementals are sure to understand us. They are incredibly intelligent. They're wisest are on par with our own," Xian shot back.

"Yes, yes, I heard it all before. But, believe me, the Elementals are of no use to us. Now, excuse me, scum, but I have actual important matters other than discussing decided matters with you," Ralin sneered.

"That's IT!" Xian said, snapping, tackling Ralin, furiously beating his face in.

Ralin blasted him up in the air.

"Giga ray!" Ralin shouted, blasted Xian again.

Xian blocked it and unsheathed his sword. "Transcendent Sword!" The sword glowed black with gold runes and a beam burst from it, slamming into Ralin. Ralin held up his arms, trying to deflect the blow. Xian redoubled his efforts when he sheathed his sword. He was about 20 feet above ground, held out his hands and fire burst from them.

Ralin almost went down. But then he actually put effort into his blocking maneuver and actually deflected the blast back at Xian.

"Traitor! You dare to strike me down! I am a mighty general, one of the most respected members of the council! You are now sentenced to the Chrysalis Curse!" Ralin shouted, his hands glowing with a faint energy.

Xian's eyes widened. _No. He can't mean... He does... No!_

Then all was oblivion for Xian. He was contained within a crystal orb and shot off. Ralin smirked, already formulating a plan to help get the wheels of war into motion.

Trithe, 200 B.S.M.

Everion smirked. The war would soon begin. Already the species had deep hatred for them. He had disguised himself as Xian and shot around the planets, wiping out villages, but leaving enough alive to make the stories credible.

Every planet in the system, excluding the pathetically weak Popstar, despised the Tricrax. They would be wiped out before long. But he had one last thing to attend to.

"Hello, your majesties," he said, entering the basement in his mansion.

"Hello, Everion," three figures all said.

The first one was a slender, but muscular, knight. He wore white armor with gold and red markings. He had several swords strapped on his person. He was Chayon, the Rajran King. Rajrans, in short, were great warriors, who had a moral code, but were known for their furious rages they could go into.

The second person was a petite woman, quite old. She had white hair and wore gray robes with a few black and white marks. She was Aether, the Elemental Empress. The Elementals were a group of incredibly wise beings with mastery over magic and, obviously, the elements.

The final one was a monster, to be frank. He was demonic in appearance, even his black and blue armor radiated evil. He had one single, gigantic sword. He was Razoul, the Necronian Chieftain. Necronians were monstrous warriors who had no morals and wished for the destruction of every living thing.

"I trust you've looked over my offer?" Everion asked.

"Why else would we be here?" Chayon said, vaguely annoyed.

"It's a fair trade. You will live shorter lives, but in turn you will give birth to the greatest Tricrax who will lead the armies of your people," Everion continued.

"We have decided to accept your offer. We wish for our subjects to be lead by someone worthy," Aether said.

Everion smirked, "_Fenrarin Incantilum Thrice fold!"_

Three beams erupted from him, shooting into each being. A small white orb appeared over Everion's head. The beams stopped, then shot back into the orb. Aether's beam was silver. Chayon's was white. Razoul's was black. They swarmed about the orb, then fused into. It turned gold and reshaped into an... egg.

"Good. Now that my future apprentice has been secured, I don't need you anymore," Everion said.

"I beg your pardon!" Aether shouted in defiance.

"I knew this sonuva bitch couldn't be trusted!" Razoul roared.

Chayon had his swords drawn and charged towards Everion. The monster of a "Tricrax" simply chuckled darkly.

He held up his hand and an enormous beam tore through all three beings. More energy shot into the egg, causing it to glow.

"And now, my apprentice shall be born," Everion said.

"Not quite, traitor," a voice said.

A black hole opened up and a figure stepped through it. It was crystal-like in appearance. A long cape extended from its shoulders. Its face was a demonic skull and it wore heavy armor.

"Who are you?" Everion demanded.

"The Dark Shadow," the newly christened being, the Dark Shadow said.

"Well, whoever you are, you cannot defeat me, you see. I'm unbeatable," Everion retorted, focused on the egg.

"Always the arrogant one," Dark Shadow muttered.

His diamond-like right claw glowed with a dark purple energy. In a split-second, he was behind Everion. Before Everion noticed, Dark Shadow slammed him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"Fool. This boy shall serve me, not you," Dark Shadow said.

A bright glow erupted in the middle of the room. A figure covered in a gold cloak with white cuffs who had a star for a head appeared when it died down.

"No. He shall not serve your evil purposes. He shall depart from here!" Star Sage roared.

The egg suddenly shot off into space, accompanied by a roar of hate from the Dark Shadow. But, with a malicious smirk, he threw a demon sword towards the egg. Soul Edge. It turned into energy and merged with the egg, to reactivate when he arrived wherever the hell he was supposed to.

Drahamak, 200 B.S.M.

"Sire, your rule is coming to a close... what shall you do? Your son is merely an egg at this point. You have two centuries for him to hatch and mature, how can you do such?" a dragon asked.

"There are methods that will permit me to raise my son... I am growing old, Duak. I wish to see my son at some point. But, as my father did with me, I will be forced to send him someplace where he shan't be tainted by evils of the world. A place where he can learn to fight for himself," Bahamut said, sitting on his mighty throne. (for an image, think of Bahamut ZERO from Final Fantasy VII, look it up on wikipedia (dot) com)

"What method?" Duak asked.

"I'll be forced into a slavery of sorts. However, I will be nearly immortal. And thus, I can share my knowledge of Dragons with future Bahamuts," Bahamut said, "I will have to seal my very soul into an orb. An orb soul-vokers (summoners, as they're called) will be able to tap into," Bahamut answered.

"And I can help you do both," the Star Sage said.

"Ah, Orion. May I help you?" Bahamut asked.

"No. But I can help you," Star Sage said, "I can help you with what you desire. I also know of a good planet to send your son."

"Please. Do so," Bahamut replied.

The Star Sage's staff glowed brightly and the egg burst from the nursery and shot off into space through a hole the Star Sage formed then healed up again. He also merged it with the energies of Soul Calibur.

Space, 1 B.S.M.

Two comets had been shooting through space for several years. One had black and red energies crackling about, just looking at it you could tell that it was evil. The other, however, had white and blue energies, and seemed entirely pure. They collided and attached, spinning rapidly. They seemed to actually be fighting on some different plane than our own.

They began building momentum until finally they pierced the atmosphere of a certain planet called Popstar. Energy waves from two conflicting, soul-based weapons shot over the planet, bathing it in ecto-plasmic energy. Several hundred people became half-ghost. Most had underdeveloped powers, in fact, only a handful had good powers that could be utilized to any extent. Only a few of those were actually good and remain uncorrupted by their power. But, power corrupts. And most gave into the corruption.

Popstar, 0 B.S.M.

It had been precisely a year since the waves shot across the Dark and Hero sides of Popstar. And on the very edge of it, two massive forces clashed...

A creature that had only been spoken of in myths, Nightmare, was clashing with a being made entirely out of energy, so that its features were impossible to tell, were fighting. For now, we'll just call it Soul Calibur, as that was the weapon it held.

Nightmare twirled enough to give his sword incredible enough momentum to leave an after-image. Soul Calibur leapt on top of the sword and slashed its sword towards the demon. Nightmare used his massive strength to lift the sword up, catapulting Soul Calibur through the air. He then twirled around, swing his sword like a pinwheel, finally launching it up at Soul Calibur.

Soul Calibur suddenly formed wings and dodged the blade, grabbing the hilt. The eye on it glared at it, then the sword shot towards the ground, not allowing it to release its grip. It dug into the ground, while Soul Calibur couldn't move. Nightmare had a triumphant look on his face. Or what you could see of him.

It walked over, opened his right hand, a giant claw, and grabbed down on Soul Calibur's head. With his power surging through the claw, he began putting more and more pressure on the being's head, until finally the energy burst into millions of particles and Soul Calibur dropped down. Nightmare roared in triumph, Soul Edge held high now.

So interested in his win, that he did not noticed Soul Calibur, the person, re-forming, and Soul Calibur, the weapon, returning to its wielder's hands. Soul Calibur then lanced out its namesake, piercing Soul Edge's eye. He twisted it and both weapons shattered.

Nightmare and Soul Calibur screeched in pain. Slowly, they dissolved to reveal a glowing egg. The eggs flashed a blinding light, sending out a mental message which scanned various people, then became two figures.

One had black hair and wore a blue, segmented cloak. He was Caucasian with a gray-ish tinge, giving him a... draconic... look. He woke up and looked at the other figure, now also getting up. He had blondish-brown hair that stuck up. He was taller than the other figure and was incredibly white.

The two figures glared at each other. Then the figure with black hair changed. He was a black ball with a purple gas surrounding him.

"Ghastly!" he hissed.

He appeared to concentrate and the blondish-brown boy formed a look of pain. He turned invisible and shot up in the air then blasted an ecto-beam. It struck the ghost-type dead in the forehead. The pokemon reeled in pain, then transformed again. It became a giant red monster with large claws.

"Groudon!" he roared.

"Hey! Behemoth knock-off!" the blonde shouted.

Groudon turned around, in a wild attempt to snatch him up. Instead, he met with a large Ecto-Blast. It knocked him back a good ways away and knocked him down. In response, he turned into Typhlosion and shot a massive fireball at the boy.

"So sorry! But that's not how I roll, dumbass!" the blonde smarted off, flying through the fireball, having become intangible.

Typhlosion roared in anger and slashed away at him the second he became tangible. While the blonde couldn't retaliate, he blasted him with Flamethrower, severely scorching him. He then tossed the blonde a few yards. The boy landed next to an elder man. He had the markings of a ghost, as he was glowing green. When a ghost is severely injured, to the point where they're close to dead, their ectoplasm flares up, trying to heal the body.

The boy smirked, and he placed his hand on the man's forehead, his own hand glowing red. It increased in intensity, and then he got back up.

"Hey! Ben Ten! Mystique! Whoever the hell you are! Time for my own ECTO EXPLOSION!" the blonde shouted, energy rippling around him.

And, as the name suggested, an explosion burst forth. It didn't just cause a wave of fire. It was an ectoplasmic shield, which expanded rapidly. Then, the boom came afterwards, as the energy within the shield suddenly had a current of something similar to electricity. It sent the black-haired boy flying into a building.

Afterwards, the blonde fell down to his knees.

The black-haired kid tore out of the rubble as Lugia. The blondish-brown-haired kid slowly got to his feet.

Lugia charged up a large ball of psychic energy. The BBHK formed an equally large ball of ecto energy.

The bluish-white energy burst from Lugia's mouth, the fins on his back extended upwards to symbolize the strain.

The green energy burst from the BBHK's hands, his hair being blown back and the wind kicking up from the energy.

The beams collided, intertwining together and pushing against each other.

"Give up! When it comes to blasting, ya' can't do it like me! I'm so good I don't need nobody else!" the blonde practically sang.

"You should give up yourself... Brujaa. Yes, I have peered into your mind," the Lugia clone said.

"Good for you," Brujaa said, rolling his eyes.

The two beams began increasing in power, until finally they both exploded, sending the combatants sprawling to the bottom of the hill. Apparently, there were fumes on that hill... orsomething. Why, you ask? Because they were laughing uncontrollably. Yes. Laughing. Joyously.

"I can tell this'll be a good partnership! I've found someone within the same power level!" Brujaa laughed.

"Yeah, really. By the way, my name's Donlan. Man, that was fun," the newly named Donlan chuckled.

The two new friends continued to stare at the stars, occasionally laughing.

**Oh, I don't think chapters will be **_**quite**_** as long as this, I don't think. Don't expect a whole lotta updates a lot with this one. I mostly wrote this because I couldn't find inspiration for other, more important, fics I'm writing. I'll try to finish those, though, and get back to this.**

**Because of this, I'll go ahead and tell you the "secret" reference. Xian's attack, Transcendent Sword, is from Omnimon, on Digimon: The Movie.**


	2. Ghosts: Pokkit and the Monster

_**Pokkit and the Monsters...**_

_**I'm currently uninterested in other projects, so this'll be updated a bit more than I planned. I hate yet love YouTube (dot) com. I'll try not to be on it much. It's doubtful I will anyways... **_

_**Things not original in this chapter:**_

_**Pokemon (Species - Pokemon)**_

_**Ghost Powers (Abilities - Danny Phantom)**_

_**Shadow (Character - Sonic Series)**_

_**Tails (Character - Sonic Series)**_

_**Final Fantasy (Game Series - Final Fantasy)**_

_**There may also be a few references here and there, but I'll see if you can spot any.**_

Popstar, 1 A.S.M.

There had been several changes in Popstar since Donlan and Brujaa arrived on the planet. Several big changes for that matter. Donlan and Brujaa had quickly established the Hunter Base. It was a huge building with the latest and greatest technology. All of the technology had been developed by Shadow the Hedgehog. You may wonder how he developed it and not Miles "Tails" Prower the Fox.

To sum it up, they had obtained an incredible power called the Fusion Emerald. And with it, Shadow and Tails had inadvertently fused. They couldn't figure out how to undo this, and thus they left it alone. Tails could deal with it, and Shadow was fine with an incredibly increased IQ. Shadow was the main conscience in the body, and the only difference was that he could form the two tails that Tails had in his original state. Tails was still able to talk, but only to Shadow. Mostly, he remained in a comatose-like state, vaguely aware of what was going on.

Donlan and Brujaa had fought a few minor ghosts, but no real threats. Today, they might actually get one.

Currently, however, they were just playing video games.

"Lessee. Final Fantasy CCXIV? Hmmm... They're gonna' run out of Roman Numerals pretty soon," Brujaa said.

"Possibly. But, for now, we've got a great series to play," Donlan replied.

"Hey! Donlan! Some wackjob's demanding you to fight him!" Shadow called from his lab, "He's outside!"

"Why do _I_ get all the wackos?" Donlan huffed, putting down the controller.

"Because you're one yourself. Holler if ya' need help," Brujaa retorted, still playing.

Outside of the Hunter Base

Donlan stared at the person who called him out. It was a half-ghost. It wore a red cloak that opened up at the waist, close to a cape. He had a blue right shoulder pad and the right arm was armor lined with gold. He had on blue pants underneath cloak and had black goggles on.

"Who is this freak?" Donlan asked no one in particular.

"I am Pokkit! The master of Pokemon!" Pokkit answered.

He held his hand up and a Pokeball appeared out of nowhere, albeit it was green and black instead of red and white. It opened up to reveal a black dog with a spade tail and goat-like horns. It also wore a skull necklace and had bone-like rings around his legs and half-rings on his back.

"Houndoom! Flamethrower!" Pokkit ordered.

Houndoom complied, expelling a massive shot directly at Donlan. He retaliated by turning into a Blastoise and curling up in his shell. The onslaught ended and he burst back out, his cannons at the ready. Pokkit had almost gotten him back in his Pokeball before he blasted (punny...) Houndoom into the ground with his cannons.

"Argh! Suicune! Ice Beam!" he shouted, releasing the blue dog with a large crest on its head and purple cloud-like head tails.

It froze Donlan followed by a triumphant bark, which caused the ice caps to freeze more. I think. Donlan looked behind him to see Brujaa saving the game and cutting it off.

"Help!" he attempted to shout, but it only came out as a mutter.

Brujaa came out and looked at Pokkit.

"Oh what- He gets a dog and I don't?" Brujaa quipped.

"C'mon! Help!" Donlan mutter-shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'm Fighting Phantom." Brujaa said, blasting the ice.

A-A

The ice shattered and Donlan became Mew. He concentrated and energy formed around the ice shards. They shot toward Pokkit and Suicune. Suicune roared and a blizzard began whipping around, causing the ice shards to go off course and shoot into the ground. The Legendary Dog of Ice ran towards Donlan under the cover of the blizzard. He leapt into him, cutting into and biting his neck.

Before he could do extensive damage, Donlan had become a Gyardoas. The giant blue serpent had a yellow underbelly that had the same pattern as a Dragon's. White spikes ran down his back and he had a three-pronged crest on his forehead. He roared in anger and wrapped tightly around the Suicune. The Ice-type stared into the beast's eyes and shot out a Hyper Beam, tearing into Donlan's head, almost knocking him out.

A-A

Currently, Pokkit was too busy with Brujaa blasting at him to notice what Suicune was up to. Brujaa blasted into his foot, forcing him into the air. This allowed Brujaa to rocket into him and tackle him, furiously beating his face in, flying through the air.

Pokkit was now desperate. So, he began flinging out random Pokeballs, releasing Deoxys, Shedinja, Lugia, Tyranitar, and Kyogre. Brujaa didn't notice. Donlan did.

(Deoxys is a red humanoid with DNA strands for arms that can wind together and actually look like hands. Shedinja looks like a green ladybug with a silver half-halo and angelic (sorta) wings. Shedinja doesn't move except for its halo. Tyranitar looks like a light-green T-Rex with a smaller head, larger/longer arms, and appears to have plate-spikes covering him. Kyogre looks like Lugia without a neck/head and he's blue with a few red lines.)

A-A

Donlan's reaction?

"Oh shit."

Donlan didn't exactly know what to turn into, so he turned into a gut instinct when Deoxys fired a DNA Strand at him that was quite sharp. He became a Dragonite (yellow dragon that stands on hind legs) and took to the skies.

"Oh dang, oh dang, oh dang!" he cursed.

Lugia suddenly shot an Aeroblast (AKA a large tornado that's base was in his mouth) that swallowed up Donlan, spinning him all around and heavily damaging him. Donlan was soon struck by an idea and then by a cow.

"Ignoring that," Donlan muttered, shooting electricity from his antennae into Lugia's mouth.

The Legendary Bird shrieked in pain and stopped the Aeroblast, letting Donlan get in a focused punch, which knocked Lugia into Tyranitar. However, the great reptilian monster lifted up Lugia and tossed him off him. He then roared in anger, but knew he couldn't do anything.

"Ky!" Kyogre bellowed, causing a flood from the nearby ocean.

Donlan was washed back, but he pushed forward. He flew up and out of the attack, then slammed into Kyogre, sunk his claws into him and called down lightning. He flew a feet away and watched as Kyogre fried, then fainted, returning to his Pokeball.

Sand started kicking up and the wind started to bite. Shedinja's half-halo was briefly seen spinning before everything was blocked out by the torrent caused. Donlan, however, did manage to see a bit of Silver Wind in the sandstorm and cursed his luck. His currently-draconic skin could take the sandstorm with little to no pain, but then a huge gust came out of nowhere and shoved him through it, causing intense pain. Finally, he changed back to normal.

A-A

Pokkit managed to kick up and get Brujaa away from him. He then pulled out an ecto-sword and charged.

"Awwww... come ON! Why can't I do that?" Brujaa whined.

He put up a shield and the sword clashed down on it. Brujaa growled in a feral manner and the shield was focused into a beam, which hit Pokkit directly between the eyes. His eyes watered and he backed up.

A-A

Donlan was faintly aware that the sandstorm had stopped, but was horrified because he saw Tyranitar charging right at him. He nearly had a heart attack when the beast ran right over him, not actually stomping on him. After his adrenaline reduced a bit, he was aware of a dampness in the sand.

"Brujaa shall _never_ know about this," he muttered.

He saw Tyranitar charging into Deoxys and smirked. He had managed to cast Confusion on him, which had led to him attacking his own teammate. He stopped smirking when Deoxys wrapped his strands around Tyranitar and squeezed hard enough that _Donlan_ felt his bones cracking. Tyranitar roared in agony, but lifted up Deoxys by tilting back. He then jumped up and turned over, subjecting Deoxys to the full force.

That's not how it was gonna' go. There was a ball of light, then Deoxys and Tyranitar were about a half-mile up, and Deoxys let go. Tyranitar fell and hit the earth, doing what he intended to: earthquake. He then fainted and returned to his Pokeball. Deoxys warped, again, directly onto the ground and lanced one of his strands towards Donlan.

A-A

Pokkit cursed as Niagara fell from his eyes. Whoever the shell that is. Brujaa then pistoned his fist straight towards Pokkit's face. Pokkit, however, interrupted the attack by grabbing his arm. He twisted it and shoved hard. Brujaa cringed in pain as he fell backwards. Pokkit lifted his ecto-sword up high and let it fall, keeping it on target for Brujaa's head.

Brujaa held up his hands, in an attempt to block the blow...

A-A

Donlan leapt up and grabbed the strand. He became Raikou and zapped into it, causing Deoxys to retract his smoldering limb. Deoxys then concentrated and Donlan was hit by an unseen force. He called down thunder, which struck Deoxys directly. It continued to fry him even as Lugia began getting up.

Its rage was directed at Donlan. And with that rage, he utilized the Hyper Beam, which was just detected in time. Donlan leapt up and Deoxys received the blow. He was knocked unconscious and returned to his Pokeball. Lugia was tired after the immense amount of energy he used. Which gave Donlan enough time to turn into Umbreon and hurl a Shadow Ball directly into Lugia.

"FACE!" he cackled with glee, as that was where the Shadow Ball hit.

Lugia, tired from all the damage and Hyper Beam, began swaying dangerously. Donlan then used Swift, which sent several star beams through Lugia, finally knocking him out. The red light emerged and trapped Lugia back in his Pokeball.

A-A

Brujaa and Pokkit were both surprised when Brujaa's hands weren't sliced into along with head shortly after. Brujaa opened his eyes to see that a sword had emerged from his hand in the form of ecto-energy. He slashed up with all his might and then it turned into simple ecto-energy, which slammed into Pokkit, blasting him further back.

A-A

Donlan turned his attention on Shedinja. Somewhere, some idiot was playing The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. And apparently some props had been lost, as a tumbleweed drifted across the des- I mean beach.

Donlan ignored it, and instead held both his hands out, as if ready to draw a gun and begin firing. He narrowed his eyes.

Shedinja began drawing in solar energy.

Donlan transformed into Entei.

Shedinja focused the solar energy.

Donlan sucked in air, preparing for his next attack.

Shedinja fired the Solar Beam.

Donlan blasted out a fireball and then started boosting it with a flamethrower.

They pushed at each other, each trying to get the attack to push through.

A-A

Brujaa reformed the Ecto-Sword and slashed down towards Pokkit and energy shot off from it, like a Sword Beam. It tore into Pokkit and he began sweating furiously. He was incredibly weak and could barely stand. He now knew he was outnumbered and was wishing for someone to stop the world as he was about the throw up.

The halfa threw an ecto-energy blast, which knocked Pokkit out. He pulled out a hair dryer-like device and set it on low. He aimed it at Pokkit then noticed Donlan's struggle.

A-A

The two beams continued pushing at each other, neither relenting much ground for long. Then the hell fire burst through the ceased Solar Beam and sent Shedinja back to his Pokeball. Donlan began cheering.

"Wah-hoo! I beat five ultimate Pokemon on my own! Woo hoo! Go me! Go me!" Donlan shouted, gleefully.

Brujaa raised an eyebrow. Donlan then opened his eyes and saw that Brujaa had an ecto-sword extended out to where Shedinja was.

"Awwww. I thought I beat five ultimates on my own," Donlan muttered.

"Nope. I still had to help," Brujaa replied.

"I still beat four ultimates without help," Donlan said.

"Yay for ye," Brujaa said, rolling his eyes.

He then turned on the "hair dryer" which shout out a white beam that absorbed Pokkit.

"Well that was moderately annoying," Brujaa said.

Dream Star

The Dark Shadow stood at the edge of a balcony, peering into an image of Brujaa.

"Oh, there shall be upcoming ghosts that are more than... annoying, I assure you," he laughed.


	3. Ghosts: Power Trip

_**Power Trip, One Ticket Please...**_

_**Ah, it seems that The Adventures will be updated more than anythin' else. Goody. I guess. **_

_**By the way, if something's already been mentioned in a previous chapter that ain't original, it won't be mentioned again.**_

_**Things not original in this chapter**_

_**MENSA - (Organization - some genius group thingy)**_

_**Shatner - (Name - Famous Actor)**_

_**King Dodongo - (Boss - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)**_

_**Hobbes (Doll/Character - Calvin and Hobbes)**_

_**Sonic the Hedgehog (Character - Sonic)**_

_**Anyways... ummm... Roll it or summat.**_

Pop Star Middle School...

Brujaa and Donlan walked up to school. Alia always made them go to school, despite the fact that they were legal heroes and Donlan was a certifiable genius, Brujaa being fairly close to being applicable for MENSA himself. They believed it was simply because she wanted them as far away from her as possible at all times. Alia was the owner of the Hunter Base and a bitch, big time.

So, Donlan walked into the classroom with Brujaa and they sat down in the back row.

"I believe I have already stated, Mr. Donlan, that we cannot permit you to stay in the room as you are not half-ghost," the Teacher droned.

"B-but, neither is the rest of the school! This is the super hero class!" Donlan protested.

"We can only teach the half ghosts who may become superheroes later in life. Not you," the teacher deadpanned.

"Fine, I'll go wait in the Band Hall," Donlan said, annoyed.

"Man, you are lucky," Brujaa muttered to Donlan, who rolled his eyes.

The teacher went on and on about something nobody actually paid attention to. It's Donlan's day that was actually... interesting.

Band Hall...

Donlan had waited for a while before Ms. Vatik finally let him in as the previous class came out.

"Forced out again? Mr. Telin is such a pompous ass," Ms. Vatik asked.

"Yes. Yes he is," Donlan replied, darkly.

"Well, get your Dragon drums and get ready to play," Ms. Vatik said.

Donlan went over to the edge of the room and pulled out a large set of red drums with white material stretched over it. It had odd markings on it and the three drums were attached to each other in a triangular way by a series of blue metal strips that would wrap around each drum and continue to the next that looked like the body of a serpent.

Or an Imperial Lung (Chinese Dragon).

He got in his normal position, which was sitting on the floor with the Dragon drums in his lap. Soon, a student came in and got her flute and several other students came in and got various instruments.

They all began playing, and while Donlan was following along flawlessly, he had his mind on other things.

_They all think they're better than me._

_Just because they have ghost powers._

_I can see how they look at me._

_Their eyes are full of detest and hatred._

_Even Brujaa has brief flashes of hatred towards me._

_EVERYONE DESPISES ME._

**But of course. Who could love you?**

_What? Who are you?_

**A true friend.**

_How are you in my mind?!  
_

**Oh... I have my ways.**

_Get out now._

**But why? You're my best friend.**

_Nice try, but Brujaa doesn't have mental powers._

**That fool is not your friend. He has his own friends. They've always mocked you.**

_What are you talking about? Brujaa and I are best friends._

**Then how come I've heard him talking about you with Syra-Beam?**

_There's no way he'd go near her. They hate each other._

**Yeah, like you'd know. I'm a spirit. I even once saw them making out under the old oak tree. **

_Excuse me while I laugh my ass off. Brujaa isn't interested in gals at this point._

**You go ahead and believe that. I'm the spirit whose been observing everything.**

_Get outta my head, you fekking voyeur._

**Fine then, but you might wanna watch out, your solo's coming up.**

_WHAT?!_

Donlan returned to the real world, still playing and he performed his solo, although on the last beat, he screwed up. He blushed a well-hidden blush and continued the piece until the end of class, when he walked out for lunch.

"What an idiot. He totally fumbled that on purpose. He's such an attention hog," a classmate said, Danielle, as he recalled.

**What'd I tell you?**

He ignored it. He remembered that in the blitzo game last night, Jerron had fumbled the ball, supposedly on purpose and continued walking.

Donlan then saw Brujaa walking out with a girl. He didn't see her face, but he could see the black hair and knew it was Syra-Beam.

**I did tell you.**

Brujaa then broke off and headed for Donlan.

"What's up Donlan?" Brujaa asked.

Donlan just stood there.

**Let me take control for a bit.**

"Heloooooooo?" Brujaa asked, waving his hand in front of Donlan's face.

_Why? What'll it do?_

"Anybody hooooome?"

**Totally free you.**

_Do it._

"You auditioning for the doorstop in- YOW!" Brujaa shouted, as Donlan suddenly punched square in the face.

"What the hell man! What? The? HELL!?" Brujaa roared, "Donlan, I am so kicking your ass for that!"

"I'm sorry, the moron's mind you're trying to reach is currently disconnected, please shut the hell up. And then DIE!" 'Donlan' said.

"Heh? Donlan?" Brujaa asked, holding an ecto-ball, ready to fire.

"No. DUSKHAN!" Duskhan shouted, an ecto wail erupting from him.

"OH SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATNER!" Brujaa shouted, being thrown back by the wail into the school wall.

Duskhan began walking towards Brujaa, an evil smile on Donlan's, now Duskhan's, face. Brujaa got up and powered up. His hair turned black and his clothes turned into a one-piece green suit.

"What've you done with Donlan?" Brujaa asked, his eyes blazing with black energy.

"That fool? He actually believed a few lies I fed him. Now, I have complete control over him," Duskhan said.

Brujaa growled and formed the Ecto Sword, bursting forward and slashing. Duskhan slammed him aside with a simple wave of his hand. Brujaa roared in anger and shot forward again, the Ecto Sword in front of him like a lance. Duskhan grabbed the blade of ectoplasmic energy and it dispersed. Brujaa then cocked back his arm and blasted an Ecto Beam straight into Duskhan.

"You truly are idiotic. You cannot beat me. I can now merge various Pokemon, or merge them with myself," Duskhan said, as his body was covered in the same plates as Tyranitar.

"Oh shpizzit," Brujaa said, half-cowering.

Ty-Dushkhan roared and stomped, causing a mini earthquake that knocked Brujaa to the ground. Ty-D then picked up a chunk of the earth and threw the boulder at Brujaa. Brujaa managed to blast it into bits that rained down on him rather harmlessly.

Brujaa then flew up and began raining Ecto blasts. Ty-D turned back into Duskhan, and then he turned into Rayquaza, who roared with laughter at the pathetic blasts. While he was laughing, Brujaa flew down and threw a super-charged ecto blast into Ray-D's open mouth. It traveled down his gullet and exploded. He floated there and stared at Brujaa.

"Well, it worked on King Dodongo," he shrugged.

Rayquaza then shot a massive fireball, which knocked Brujaa out of the sky and rammed him into the side of a tree, which was set ablaze. Brujaa slid down, and nearly passed out. Luckily, friends came.

"Hey Brujaa! What's shakin'?" Sonic asked, as he picked up Brujaa and sped away from the battle zone and towards the Hunter Base.

"ARRRGHHH! Brujaa! SONIC! DIIIIEEE!" Duskhan roared.

"Did you take away his Hobbes doll again?" Sonic asked.

"No. He was... possessed. Duskhan. We gotta get to... the Hunter Base," Brujaa muttered.

Duskhan then stopped.

"So that's how you wanna play, eh? Well I'll just destroy everything until you come and face me Brujaa! EVERYTHING!" Duskhan roared.

"Could you ask him to start with Syra-Beam?" Brujaa asked.

Sonic snickered but said, "how 'bout I don't and I say I did?"

"Whaaaaatever," Brujaa replied.

"We'll get you quick medical attention, then we'll come back and kick his arse," Sonic said, shooting inside the Hunter Base.

Hunter Base...

Brujaa received a quick minute on the medical bed, or "med bed", as they called it more oftenly. He then got up and looked outside.

"Everything's black," he said.

"I know how hopeless it may seem, but I'm sure we'll pull through," Sonic said.

"No. I mean it. Everything's turned black," Brujaa replied.

Sonic looked out the window and saw that Brujaa was right. The lands were turning as black as pitch.

"How is this happening?" Shadow asked, looking out the window as well.

"Duskhan... Dusk. Khan. King of Dusk. Dusk is on the edge of Darkness. This must be an ability or something of his. He can feed off a planet's energy and put it into a permanent dusk," Brujaa said.

"Listen, I've received word that Neo Star is being attacked by Eggman again. I have to go stop him, before he takes over," Sonic said, zipping off to the flight section of the Hunter Base.

"I don't know if I'll be able to help you much, Brujaa," Shadow said.

"Do you have any precise weaponry?" Brujaa asked.

"I do have several lasers and sniper scopes, why?" Shadow asked.

"I'm going to have to fight Duskhan. But I want to make sure that if I may die, that he'll be taken out too," Brujaa replied.

"Kill Donlan? The hell with it, I'll get ready," Shadow said.

"Make sure you have a Chaos Emerald or two. I'm sure you'll have to use Chaos Control once or twice during the fight. Do not interfere unless you're sure I'll die, and even then, try to see if you can simply injure Duskhan. I'd rather my best friend NOT die," Brujaa ordered.

"On it!" Shadow said.

Oh yes, the Hunter Base had many heroes from various dimensions. However, they were often dealing with their own problems. Brujaa was lucky that Shadow was free fairly often, or he would've had to 've toughed it alone. But now, he was at full strength, he had on armor that was invisible to help himself. And he had Shadow to back him up.

Duskhan. Prepare yourself. You're going to face wrath like no other.


	4. Ghosts: Star Light, Star Fights

_**Star Lights, Star Fights**_

_**Things not original in this chapter**_

_**Hunter Base - Megaman (I didn't realize this. Ocil just now told me.)**_

_**Rikso Combo (My name for when Riku and Sora defended themselves against an onslaught of lasers in the Xemnas Fight) - Kingdom Hearts 2**_

_**Law of Bob & George (The Law that states you shouldn't believe your enemies dead unless you have a body) - Bob & George (web comic of the same website name)**_

_**SECRET REFERENCES! CAN YOU GET THEM?**_

_**Roll it!**_

Hunter Base, Pop Star

Brujaa walked out of the Hunter Base, Shadow following him.

"You sure you ready to do this?" Shadow asked.

"I'm certain I can get Duskhan beaten and Donlan free. I know I will." Brujaa answered, sternly.

He saw Duskhan blowing up more buildings.

"Hey Shadow." Brujaa said.

"Yeah?" Shadow asked.

"I'm sure everyone on Pop Star is thanking you for developing the substance that rebuilds itself after destroyed. I know I am." Brujaa said.

"...just kill Duskhan." Shadow ordered.

Brujaa tore off towards Duskhan, his body surrounded by an ecto-shield. He slammed into Duskhan, winning the battle. He wished. Duskhan got back up.

"So you finally decided to fight me, boy." Duskhan said.

Brujaa didn't answer, instead taking to attacking in the form of flying through the air towards Duskhan. Duskhan chuckled and grabbed his arm, then threw him to the side.

"You'll have to do better than that, Brujaa." Duskhan mocked.

Brujaa growled in reply and blasted Duskhan in the face. Duskhan whirled back and laughed, as he transformed into a Rayquaza merged with a Groudon. He flew up into the air and whirled around, then gained the white wings of Lugia and he blasted away with Aeroblast. Brujaa gulped as he was thrown around in the tornado. He hit the ground, and then Duskhan fell to the ground, having been blasted by Shadow.

Time sped up for Duskhan as he entered a reverse Chaos Control. Shadow had worked on something ever since the events of Sonic Battle (a game that told more of his story and introduced Emerl), that allowed him to use his Chaos Energy to form blasts that could do damage and freeze the recipient for a few seconds.

Brujaa then proceeded to lay out Duskhan as quickly as possible. He threw punch after punch, with blasts going everywhere. Finally, the Chaos Control wore off and Duskhan exploded with power.

"SO! YOU WANT TO PLAY THAT WAY, EH!?" Duskhan demanded.

Brujaa blasted at Duskhan again, but it dispersed when Duskhan hit the energy. Duskhan then fired a black ball of energy that knocked Brujaa backwards into a tree.

"How is there a Waddle Dee That Loves Nature? Honestly?" Brujaa asked himself, referring to a nearby citizen of whose species and interests you can tell.

Brujaa formed the Ecto-Sword and shot for Duskhan again and sent another signal to Shadow, who blasted Duskhan again with the Reverse Chaos Control. Brujaa began hacking Duskhan up again as fast and as hard as he could. Finally, the RCC broke and Duskhan was truly angry. Shadow tossed Brujaa a device as the landscape began turning black, swallowing up everything still on the ground.

Brujaa shot up and pressed the button. Energy coursed through him.

If we were to see Popstar from space, we would see half of it glowing gold, and the other half an abysmal black.

Brujaa and Duskhan shot for each other and clashed, a huge storm forming from the opposite forces suddenly clashing. Energy clashed as the two opposite forces blasted each other. Brujaa formed a large golden ball, from which was borne an incredible beam. Duskhan created an orb of darkness that fired its own blast.

The beams crashed together and put out shockwaves which tore into the planet and the atmosphere. Brujaa pushed and pushed, continually putting out more and more energy. Duskhan put all his force and being into the blast. And the two were evenly matched the entire time.

"DONLAN! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! PLEASE! HELP ME!" Brujaa shouted over the roar of the storm that was threatening to tear apart Popstar.

Duskhan laughed, "Donlan is dead! ONLY I EXIST!"

Brujaa suddenly absorbed all the energy he put out and charged through the beam Duskhan was firing. Duskhan and Donlan clashed and Donlan temporarily won, long enough for him to cease the beam and allow Brujaa to slam into him.

The two forces exploded, and Popstar was set right. Brujaa and Donlan were in a tree, having fallen and were too weak to get out of it.

"Do it again! Do it again!" Donlan sang, merrily.

"You idiot! WE ALMOST DIED!" Brujaa shouted, angrily.

"You almost died, eh? Then I'm sure you're far too tired to deal with THIS!" Duskhan laughed, firing off several hundred blasts.

"Rikso Combo," Donlan and Brujaa said to each other at the exact same time.

Brujaa pulled out the Ecto-Sword and jumped around, slashing away every blast around him and Donlan, while Donlan turned into Scizor and used his claws to deflect the lasers that got passed Brujaa.

It went on for several minutes, until, in a slow flash of black, the lasers stopped and they attacked in a different manner.

"Very good," Duskhan said, "but try this!"

He lunged forward and picked up Donlan, pumping him with energy, in an effort to kill him. A second Duskhan was formed from black energy, and Brujaa was knocked back. He flew towards Donlan, but then the Duskhan-clone formed a shield, knocking Brujaa back. Brujaa leapt up and channeled ecto-energy through the sword, firing off several blasts that knocked the Duskhan-clone back.

Brujaa leapt up and threw the ecto-sword in the Duskhan-clone, giving him just enough time to get to Donlan and Duskhan. He leapt up between the two and knocked back Duskhan, then flew forward with Donlan, and put an Ecto Sword in his hands. Donlan turned into a Machoke, still holding the sword, but then Rayquaza's wings, shrunk down for Machoke to use easily, formed on his back. He shrugged, only intending to think about it later, as he and Brujaa flew towards Duskhan.

They first slammed into him, then they slashed into him. Raychoke-D's sword de-energized, but he was able to throw a good enough punch that it didn't matter. He and Duskhan grappled, but Duskhan was in mild discomfort when Brujaa shoved a sword through his stomach and then blasted him in the back of the head.

"Bastard," Duskhan said.

"I try," Brujaa replied, kidney punching Duskhan.

Raychoke-D spun around, and, when he gained the proper momentum, threw Duskhan into the ground, almost obliterating him. Brujaa and Donlan then fell to the ground, completely exhausted.

In the small impact crater, filled with smoke, a clawed hand burst out and pulled the rest of itself out. It was Duskhan, but he was hard to recognize. He had become a monster. He was a Dragon of sorts. He took off running towards Donlan and Brujaa, who didn't noticed him until he roared. They turned around, and he exploded.

"Don't you remember the Law of Bob & George?" Shadow asked, a gun of alien origins held over his shoulder, still smoking.

"Oh, and, pinch, poke, you owe me a Root Beer or somethin' like that," Brujaa said, pinching then poking Donlan.

"ARGH!"

Shadow's Lab

Donlan laughed, "That tickled!"

Shadow sighed. He was using a machine to scan Donlan to find out why or how his powers changed. He examined the results thoroughly with interest, nodding every once in a while.

"What is it?" Brujaa asked.

"Apparently, there is a part of him that allows him to gain various abilities after they have been exposed to him if they are in his genetic makeup. Like when Duskhan showed him how to fuse Pokemon, albeit inadvertantly," Shadow said.

"Yay! Maybe if someone becomes a block of cheese I can become one too! Cheese! GIVE! ME! THE! CHEEEEEEESE!" Donlan shouted.

"Aw, dammit, he's been exposed to idiocy, it seems," Shadow said.

"No. He's just always like that. For how long I couldn't tell ya," Brujaa replied.

"How... fun," Shadow said, annoyed.

"You were talking about the parts? What did you mean by that?" Brujaa asked.

"Every being in existence, sentient or not, has a soul. It may not seem like it, such as Syra-Rae or whoever, but every being does, from insects to aliens. The theory is that there are four parts to the soul. Each part is called a color for simplicity. Red is the power of a being. Blue is the knowledge of a being. Green is the emotions of a being," Shadow said, then stopped.

"What about the fourth part?" Brujaa asked.

"That part is debated on. Most believe it's color depends on the person's heart. For simplicity it's mostly called the Gray Spirit. Some believe it's darker if the person is more malicious than others and lighter if the person is more... benevolent than others. Yet others believe it carries hidden knowledge from past lives in cases of sentient, thinking beings that don't rely entirely on instinct," Shadow explained.

"What about beings that do rely on instinct?" Brujaa asked.

"Here's your Root Beer. Now I owe you NOTHING!" Donlan said, handing Brujaa the can.

"That's nice. Anyways," Brujaa replied, focusing back on Shadow.

"He scares me," Shadow said to Brujaa.

"He scares everyone, now, what were you about to say?" Brujaa pursued the subject.

"Beings that rely on instincts, or beast, for simplicity, are rumored to have a collective. Their souls all connect to one, or are from one, however you interpret it. The fact that they have instinct and no higher intelligence that's used for anything other than basic needs dictated by that instinct is a source for this theory. They believe that dogs have one collective that provides them with souls. The dog gets a certain soul based on their surroundings. It switches between, say, abandoned and pampered to adapt. But enough of these theories, this was all about that Gray Spirit. It is the basis of my theory. I believe that the Gray Spirit must have all of Donlan's abilities locked within and they just need to be shown to him. You may also have locked abilities, like the Ecto-Sword you told me of," Shadow finished.

"Well, this is a lot of information. Excuse me while I go lie down and figure this out, now," Brujaa and Donlan replied at the same time.

"You two must've been twins in a past life because your mind link thing is scary," Shadow said, under his breath as he went back to work.

The two protectors of Popstar walked to their seperate quarters to sleep.

Dream Star

There the infamous being, the Dark Shadow, sat. He laughed a cruel laugh and then two spirits rose up from both sides of him.

"You promised us power, Dark Shadow. You promised us revenge on the Bindos who sealed us within our tombs. But where is it?" one hissed.

"Hold your tongue, Ajani Rawl, Legion of Kings. I will give you your power. It is through that portal. You and Maulire Ragnok, Fist of the Volcano," the Dark Shadow said.

A portal opened up behind the two spirits, and they floated through, a devious smirk of malicious intent on their face.

A mention of the people to get the secret references. Hint: One is a fight scene and the other is naming. Heh.


	5. Ghosts: Robots in Disguise

_**Robots in Disguise**_

_**BEAST WARRRRS!**_

_**Note: Machine Star is like Cybertron. The universe is something like out of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, planet-wise, anyways.**_

_**Things not original in this chapter**_

_**Maximals - (Team of Characters - Beast Wars)**_

_**Predacons - (Team of Characters - Beast Wars)**_

_**Sentinel - (Name of Axalon's Defense Controlling Computer - Beast Wars)**_

_**Hatred of Time Travel - (Attitude - Bob and George)**_

_**Go to wikipedia to find out about who/what you don't know.**_

_**SECRET REFERENCES FROM LAST CHAPTER**_

_**A whole paragraph of the fight scene was straight from the Xemnas fight in Kingdom Hearts 2.**_

_**Bindos were the original name for Jedi. Ajani Rawl and Maulire Ragnok are similar to the names of Sith Lords in Knights of the Old Republic.**_

_**MORE REFERENCES TO FIND**_

Popstar, "Market"

Brujaa walked by a corner and looked up at the sign.

ALL YOUR BASE ST.

ARE BELONG TO US LN.

"Huh?" he asked.

"What is it?" Donlan asked.

He pointed out the sign. Donlan shrugged and walked on. They walked into a convience store labeled ALL YOUR BASE. Brujaa ignored it. Snickering, he picked up a pack of cigarettes and read the bottom.

SURGEON'S GENERAL WARNING:

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

"What the hell?" he demanded.

"ALL YOUR BASE! ALL YOUR BASE! ARE BELONG TO US!" The radio bellowed.

"NO! NO! IT CANNOT BE!" Brujaa roared, falling to his knees.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US! ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US! ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO USSSSSSSSS!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Brujaa roared, hands held over his ears.

Brujaa's Room

Brujaa snapped up, breathing heavily. He looked around.

"Holy crap, that was scary," he muttered, getting up.

'Brujaa, report to my lab.' Shadow ordered over the intercom.

"Over-pretentious hedgehog. I should burn some of his stuff," Brujaa muttered, getting up.

Shadow's Lab

Due to his increased intelligence thanks to the fusion with Tails, Shadow had an extensive lab filled with various gadgets, whether they were useful or not. The invention in use was a small viewscreen, which normally showed a straight line. However, now it was rippling.

"What's with the richter scale?" Brujaa asked.

"And what's with the alarm. I was sleeping," Donlan yawned.

"Bah. You whiners need to get over yourselves. We have a problem in the timestream. Someone's screwed with it. I can't get a lock on their energy, but I do know that the changes will go into effect soon, unless we stop the cause of it," Shadow informed them.

"Okay, _how_ do we stop it?" Brujaa asked.

"You'll go into the past and eliminate the time screwer-over...er," Shadow said, stumbling over his words.

"I frikkin' _hate _time travel," Donlan cried to the skies/ceiling.

"Deal with it. You'll go several thousand years into the past, where Cro-Magnon Men were around," Shadow replied, activating another portal.

"I just hope we don't have to deal with a T-Rex," Brujaa muttered, walking through the portal.

"Hey, remember, don't mess with anything or we'll end up with monkeys as rulers!" Donlan warned, running in after him.

"The time stream is _screwed_," Shadow said, shaking his head and getting back to his lab work.

Popstar, 3123 B.S.M

Brujaa looked about across the hills. Donlan rubbed his head and got up, having tripped over a vine.

"Wow. I could learn to like it here," Brujaa said, enjoying the view.

"You're an idiot," Donlan said.

KSEW! BOOM! KA-CHACK!

Brujaa and Donlan were sent flying backwards from two small explosions. They looked up to see a red bot, similar in appearance to a pterodactyl and a green and yellow bot that looked like a wasp.

"I shall claim the glory for capturing the new species! Megatron will be pleased!" the red bot, Terrosaur, cried with cackling glee.

"No! Wazzzzpinator shall give freak-things to Megatron!" the green and yellow bot, Waspinator, replied.

The two Predacons began fighting, which gave Brujaa and Donlan the proper amount of time to fly off, towards friendlier airspace.

Axalon

"Hey, Optimus, I'm reading two energy signals. They're not Predacon or Maximal. What should we do?" a large brown and green bot, similar to a Rhino, Rhinox, asked.

"We should attack! They could be enemies, waiting to sneak attack!" a raptor, Dinobot, hissed.

"Stand down, Dinobot. Are you sure you can't figure out anything specific?" Optimus asked.

"Nothing significant. One gives off ecto-energy while the other seems to give off some sort of unexplainable energy," Rhinox responded.

"Prime. I'll go out to head them off. If those two are trouble, I'll radio in for help. Be on alert," Optimus ordered.

"Sure thing, big bot!" a cheetah, Cheetor, said, transforming.

"Ehhhhh, you can count on me, too, big monkey," a rat, Rattrap said, transforming as well.

Axalon Crater

The two heroes saw Optimus jetting for them, his eyes scanning them via laser.

"Hey, Brujaa, what is that?" Donlan demanded.

"It's... it's... A monkey. I thought Optimus was a truck!" Brujaa exclaimed.

Optimus Primal stopped in front of them, his hands by his sides.

"Hello aliens. I am Optimus Primal, captain of the Axalon, leader of the Maximals. You are?" Optimus greeted.

Brujaa grinned and offered his own hand, which Optimus shook gently.

"I'm Brujaa, a half-ghost, half-...human, I think," Brujaa introduced.

Donlan shook Optimus' hands.

"I'm Donlan, a morpher," Donlan introduced.

Optimus raised a brow (in robotic terms, anyways), but said nothing.

"So, this is Popstar, right?" Brujaa asked.

"Yes. Sometime in the past. We come from Machine Star. We're at a war with the Predacons, led by Megatron 2," Optimus summed up.

"Huh. Well, we're looking for something that's screwing up the time stream. Some disturbance or something," Brujaa trailed off.

"Rhinox may be able to figure out the source of the disturbance. Follow me back to base," Optimus ordered.

"How do you know we can trust him?" Donlan asked.

"Because I've seen the data files on the Maximals and Predacons. What then, natch?" Brujaa replied, flying off after Optimus.

Axalon

Dinobot hissed at the pair and transformed when Brujaa and Donlan entered the base. He held his sword at Brujaa and glared, his eyes glowing.

"Hey, hey, hey! Easy! I'm on your side, Dinobot!" Brujaa shouted, his hands in the air.

"How do you know my name, alien scum? Are you here to spy on us?" Dinobot demanded.

"That's your name? That's retarded. It's just a pun on what you are. A dinosaur robot, how freaking original," Donlan spat.

"Yeah, what he said," Brujaa said, backing away.

Dinobot glared at Brujaa, but turned away and sat at his station, going on, business as usual.

"Rhinox, these two aliens are apparently here trying to fix the timestream. Try to see if there's any abnormal energy signals that you can detect," Optimus ordered.

"On it... Optimus! Two Predacons are closing in. Terrosaur and Waspinator," Rhinox warned.

"Cheetor, Rattrap, you're with me. Dinobot, Brujaa, Donlan, stay here unless necessary. I doubt it will be," Optimus ordered.

Axalon Crater

"Wazzzpinator say that hizzz plan will work much better than stupid pteradactyl bot's plan," Waspinator complained.

"Well, I'm the one in charge, therefore, _I_ choose the plan," Terrosaur snapped.

Optimus flew out, holding his swords in hand.

"What do you want, Predacon?" he demanded.

"We want our spies back!" Terrosaur shouted.

"Spies?" Optimus demanded.

"The aliens. They've betrayed us. We demand you hand them over to us! NOW!" Terrosaur shouted.

Rattrap carefully aimed and fired off a shot that caught Terrosaur in the chest. Cheetor fired several shots at the pteradactyl bot as well, knocking him out of Maximal territory. Waspinator gulped as Optimus cocked his head in a smug way, then lifted up his right arm. The gun emerged from his arm and shot Waspinator, causing him to explode, but sending the head towards the Predacon territory.

Axalon

"That was rather ridiculous," Optimus said, coming back inside the base.

"Well this isn't. The anomaly is in a nearby volcano," Rhino said, gravely.

"What should we do, fearless leader?" Rattrap asked.

"We'll have to bring the fight to the ones disrupting the timestream. Can you two survive that?" Optimus asked.

"I can for sure. I can morph, I told you," Donlan said.

"I'll have to use ecto-plasmic energy, but I should be able to," Brujaa answered.

"Alright then. Rattrap, Rhinox, you two will hold down the fort. The rest of you will come with me to the coordinates. Rhinox, send them to me as we go," Optimus ordered quickly.

Darkside

"WHAT?!" Megatron II roared.

"It's true! Two aliens came here. They looked like the Neandrathals, only cleaner. They don't seem like the aliens we've been encountering, though," Terrosaur reported.

"AND YOU LET THEM ESCAPE?!"

"It's Waspinator's fault!"

"Izzzz not! Stupid red bot's fault for stupid plan that only got Wazzzzzpinator put in the R Chamber again!"

"You let me go through with the plan!"

"Stupid red bot pulled rank on Wazzzzzzpinator!"

"ARGH! SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU! YOUR INCOMPETENCE MAY HAVE COST US ALLIES! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

The offending Predacons quickly shot off, away from Megatron II.

Volcano Forge

Surprising that it wasn't called Fire Temple, eh? I'm original... sometimes. The Volcano Forge could be described easily: a lotta lava and magma. What did you expect? Ice and cookies?

The group walked through the forge, which was a straight path. Donlan had transformed into a Charmeleon to become resistant to the heat.

"This place is givin' me the chills, big bot," Cheetor said.

"This is far too easy. Surely the one behind this is smart enough to try and set up traps?" Dinobot demanded.

"There is a hella lot lava. That's a safety measure, for sure," Donlan said.

"Or maybe the one behind it is just really powerful and confident in the mentioned powerful power," Brujaa said.

"Shh. Be ready. There's an opening ahead with a high temperature reading... High_er_," Optimus said, holding up his gun arm.

They slowly and stealthily made their way into the wide open room. There was a large rock in the center.

"Should we honestly be worried about a rock! How ridiculous! You Maximals are ridiculous!" Dinobot shouted in exasperation.

That's when the rock moved. It unrolled and stood up to reveal itself to be a minotaur. Flames roared to life about it and lava poured through crevices on its body. Lava moved about like an energy and formed a large sword.

"Huh," Brujaa and Donlan said.

"Prime."

Guess who said that. Go on. Guess.

"You two may have experience with whoever's ahead! Go on!" Optimus ordered.

"We'll take care of this freak!" Cheetor shouted.

The Maximals ducked behind various rocks and blasted at the Minotaur randomly in order for Brujaa and Donlan to get away from the clearing.

"Alright! I'm calling Tigatron! I've sent the coordinates and distress signal! With luck, he should be here soon!" Optimus shouted.

"Good! But what do we do in the meantime? Big and gruesome isn't gonna' wait on us," Cheetor said.

Rattrap opened up the compartment on his arm and picked the detonator out.

"DON'T!" Optimus shouted.

Too late. Rattrap threw the bomb at the Minotaur, causing a massive firey explosion that engulfed the monster. The smoke cleared to reveal the monster bigger than ever and completely unharmed.

"Good job, vermin. You've doomed us all," Dinobot hissed.

"Tigatron, hurry up!" Cheetor shouted into his communicator.

_"I'm on my way, little cat!"_

Volcano Chamber

"Damn it's hot in here. My ecto-shield can't block all the heat anymore. I need a fan!" Brujaa complained.

"Hello, my guests. Do you like my forge?" a man said from the throne placed high up on the wall.

He wore black robes and held a hilt on a belt. His eyes had no pupils, but they were pure yellow. He was completely pale, although you could see red veins on his face.

"You seriously need an interior decorator," Donlan quipped.

"And a few ACs, cuz damn!" Brujaa snapped, sweating.

"Oh, you'll get over it, once you're dead. I suspect that my Minotaur has taken care of your friends already. You'll be next unless you can survive the onslaught of lava that will pour from this volcano in a few hours," the man said.

"Who the heck do you think you are, anyways? You actually believe you'll win?" Brujaa demanded.

"I am Ajani Rawl. One of the Myth Lords. I killed many Bindos in my time, until a team of them finally sealed me away. Now, however, I will take over this world and lavish in the power I will have," Ajani Rawl said in reply, cockily, "Additionally, I don't just believe I'll win. I know I will."

"Oh really? Well check this out!" Donlan shouted.

He turned into Articuno briefly, then he turned bright orange, symbolizing his merging with Moltres to become immune to the volcano's heat. He swooped towards Ajani Rawl, spewing ice. Ajani was far too quick for that however. He leapt above Donlan, then grabbed him behind the head and rode him around a bit. He grabbed the hilt of his blade, which created an energy version of an Arabian-style sword.

Donlan transformed into a Granbull, forcing Ajani to fend for himself. Right before they hit the ground, Donlan transformed back into the Molticuno combo and flew as high as possible. Ajani flew after him, but a shield formed in front of him, knocking him down briefly. Brujaa sliced him in the back. Ajani whirled around, but saw no one. He growled angrily and did a sideways barrel row to avoid the Ice blasts from above.

He threw his Lightsaber at air and it met something that parried it. Ajani smirked and held up both hands. Large beams of red energy burst from them and slammed into Brujaa, pinning him to the floor. He was having too much fun with it, though. He became an ice sculpture and crashed to floor.

His spirit roared out of the shards and slammed into Brujaa, who went into an epileptic fit. Donlan perched beside and transformed back into a human, then knelt beside his friend.

"Dude, are you... Wait a sec!"

He transformed into Mewtwo and focused. His eyes turned blue as similarly colored energy surrounded his hands and Brujaa's body. Brujaa floated up in the air.

"NO! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED! I WILL NOT BE KILLED! NEVER!" Ajani roared through Brujaa's voice box.

Wave after wave of blue energy shot through Brujaa's body.

"The author already did a possession story. IT. CAN. NOT. BE. DONE. AGAIN!" Donlan roared.

Brujaa's body crumpled to the ground. Donlan projected energy which carried the ghost boy behind him as he floated through the forge.

Volcano Opening

Donlan saw that the Minotaur was frozen and that the Maximals were all sitting around, waiting for the pair to come back. A new one had join their group. He looked a lot like Cheetor, however he had a white tiger pattern. Tigatron, more likely than not.

"Hello, young warriors. You were successful in your battle against the one who dared to desecrate the planet?" Tigatron asked.

"Yeah... sure, whatever. I see that the Minotaurs make nice ice sculptures. You do that?" Donlan asked.

Tigatron held up his gun, "Ice is my speciality, young one."

"Well, seeing as everything is in tip-top shape, Brujaa and I goin' home!" Donlan said.

He held up his wrist and slammed his hand on the watch, which gave off a lens flare that ended with the pair gone.

"They are an odd bunch, these aliens," Tigatron noted.

"Definitely," Cheetor agreed.

Popstar, Present Time

"May we NEVER have to do that... again... Oh snap," Donlan said.

He violently shook Brujaa, sighed, then turned into a Lugia, which glowed blue briefly, healing Brujaa. Brujaa got up and nearly choked, which would've been a shame, considering the energy Donlan spent. You can't blame him though. The sight shocked him.

They should've been in the lab. It sort of looked like the lab. However, it was _not_ a lab. It was a jungle.

"UH-OH!"


	6. Ghosts: Floran Age

_**Floran Age**_

_**I apologize for the lack of updates. This is more of a side project than anything else. If I don't want to do a full-blown story of over five chapters, I can adapt the idea and post it in this, easily. Of course, I have most of the arcs somewhat planned out. The main thing is the villian and where it's set... Yeah...**_

_**Things Not Original in this Chapter**_

_**Vorpal Bunny - Monster - Final Fantasy**_

_**Ents - Creatures - Lord of the Rings**_

_**Wood Man - Robot - Megaman**_

_**Air Man - Robot - Megaman**_

_**Plant Man - Robot - Megaman**_

_**DubyaTeeEff (WTF) - Internet saying**_

_**Enker - Megaman Killer - Megaman**_

_**There's a SECRET REFERENCE!**_

Popstar, Present

Brujaa and Donlan looked around, horrified at the jungle they found themselves in.

"This is NOTHING like the jungles of Popstar! I've been to every one of those!" Brujaa declared.

"Maybe you have a retention problem. According to Shadow's watch, this is Popstar in the present," Donlan said.

A loud roar was heard in the jungle. One that sounded like a woman's scream. Brujaa and Donlan's pupils dilated as they looked towards each other, then back out at the jungle. The roar came from an Amazonian big cat, the leopard. It was met with a different roar, which sounded almost like a bunch of squeaking. The heroes' eyes widened in fear for the little one. Then they heard the death cries of the leopard.

"DubyaTeeEff!?" they both shouted.

Then the little bunny came through the bush. It looked up at them and cocked its head. It had blood on its mouth.

"DEVIL RABBIT!" Brujaa shouted.

"WORSE! VORPAL BUNNY!" Donlan shouted.

Out of instinct, Brujaa held up his hands to cover his face. The vorpal bunny leapt towards him in a retarded-looking, but deadly, charge. Brujaa held his hands out, hoping to stop the vorpal bunny. It _was_ stopped. By two giant blue ecto-beams that fired from Brujaa's hands. The vorpal bunny was crisperized.

Brujaa looked at his hands, which had smoke on them.

"Huh."

"You must've got the technique Ajani had when he went inside you," Donlan said.

"That sounded way creepier than you intended, but I get your point," Brujaa replied.

With that, they headed through the jungle, with the intent of discovering the nearest lab with a time machine.

A-A

"So, how do you still have the watch if Shadow's Lab is destroyed like it seems to be," Brujaa asked.

"It was given special functions, like nulling time paradoxes to cause us any difference," Donlan answered.

"Makes sense."

"Yeah, Shadow is more prepared than a whole troop of Boy Scouts."

A-A

Donlan sang as they continued along the way.

"87 bottles of beer on the wall! 87 bottles of beer on the wall! You take one down and pass it around-"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

A-A

They came upon a large temple made of intertwined trees and vines. Two large trees stood on either side of it.

"This it?" Brujaa asked.

"How many temples themed after the landscape are typically the source of change in a place?" Donlan demanded.

"True." Brujaa replied.

They walked towards the temple, when the two large trees began moving.

"DEVIL TREES!" Donlan screeched.

"WORSE! ENTS!" Brujaa shouted.

They stomped towards the heroes, causing tremors as they went. They turned around and ran as fast as they could. Three more Ents came from behind them, trapping them.

"Wait. Why are we running?" Brujaa asked.

"Because those things'll kill us!" Donlan snapped.

"Turn into a fire pokemon and kill 'em!" Brujaa raged.

Donlan looked down.

"I should've thought of that earlier."

"Moron. Ugh! I should just go insane now."

"It _would_ save time."

(Ocil's Joke!)

"GO! LUMBERJACK TIME!"

Donlan transformed into a Charizard and spewed fireballs all around him. The Ents caught on fire and were reduced to ashes in moments with added flame. Donlan then transformed into a Blastoise and put out the fire before it spread to them.

"That was ridiculously- WAIT! I DIDN'T SAY IT! IT DOESN'T COUNT IF I DIDN'T SAY IT!" Donlan exclaimed, transforming back into human form.

"You fool! You've doomed us all!" Brujaa shouted.

They cringed, waiting for the worst to come. The seconds crept by. Finally, a whole minute with nothing. They relaxed and strolled right into the temple.

A-A

"Okay, so now we just have to get passed a few guardians, kill the main dude, then go back in time using his portal, right?" Brujaa asked.

"Pretty much. There shouldn't be too many guardians, though," Donlan shrugged.

That's when the robots dropped in. Three of them, for that matter. One looked like he was made of wood. The second had a large flower for a head. The last one looked like a large fan with eyes and limbs.

"That's too many guardians," Brujaa said.

"Shut up, you'll just make it worse," Donlan growled.

A-A

And then Enker killed everybody!

THE END

Author's Comments: It is with a heavy heart, that I must quit the Internet and end the story like this.

HA! MORON! YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVED ME!

(Ocil's Joke!)

A-A

"Does it feel like the Author just made a really stupid joke to you?" Donlan asked.

"Why yes, yes it does," Brujaa answered.

_**WHY MUST I PUT UP WITH SUCH CHARACTERS? HUH? NO ONE HEARD ABOUT JOHN GRISHAM'S CHARACTERS MAKING FUN OF HIM! WHY ME?!**_

"Whiny emo idiot," Brujaa and Donlan muttered.

"BRAAUUUGHHHHRRRR!" Plant Man roared, rising up with the help of vines.

"Funny, I expected him to sing about feeding him and calling us Seymour," Brujaa said.

"It's a plant. It's a... freaking plant... It's going down," Donlan snickered, hitting his palm, with a wicked gleam in his eye

The vines all shot towards the duo with incredible speed. Donlan turned into a Charmander and let the fire on his tail set the vines alight. Plant Man snapped the vines back in a desperate attempt to get them away from the fire. Too late. Plant Man fell as he was incinerated. Wood Man grew angry, noted by him sending leaves towards Donlan at a fast rate. The fire on his tail blocked them all.

"This is getting boring _real_ quick, know it?" Brujaa asked.

"Too true. Do you want to end it, or should I?"

"Bah. I'd like to see how much damage the Ecto Cannon can do."

With that, Brujaa held his hands up, allowing two blue beams of ecto-energy to blow a hole in Wood Man and Air Man. Vital circuitry was pierced, causing the two Robot Masters to deactivate.

"Alright, let's get to the final room!" Donlan declared, turning back into his (somewhat) normal self.

A-A

A small orb was floating on a pedastal in the middle of the room. It displayed strange symbols on the screen half of it.

"It's the date that the source went back to," Brujaa said.

"Well, come on, let's go get him," Donlan replied, approaching the orb.

He spun it around, pressed a few buttons, and the duo faded from view, heading for a passed time.

A-A

Brujaa and Donlan sat up, and looked around.

"Sup, guys?" Cheetor asked.


	7. Ghosts: More Than Meets the Eye

_**More Than Meets the Eye**_

_**The Beasties will pop up again... WAY deep into the story, You probably won't even remember this arc by that point, if I ever get to it. For explanation on Beast Wars, go to wikipedia, watch the show (or at least what you can) on YouTube, or buy the DVDs. I did that third one.**_

_**Scene breaks that are within the same area will be noted forever and always as **_A-A._**Got it memorized?**_

_**And remember, things unoriginal in the chapter that have been stated before won't be stated again.**_

_**Finally, I'd like to state that I AM SO FREAKING HAPPY THAT THIS LITTLE STORY IS OVER! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_

_**Things unoriginal in this chapter**_

_**Transmetals - Cybertronian State of Being**_

Popstar, 3122 B.S.M.

"Cheetor? What are you doing here... and why are you more metal-ly?" Donlan asked.

Cheetor, Rattrap, and Optimus stood before them, looking different than from last time.

"We underwent some changes. We call the new look Transmetal," Optimus explained.

"The question is, though, what choo doin' here? I thought that disturbance had been, eh, neutralized," Rattrap said, shrugging.

"One of the disturbances was. When we got back, it was overrun by jungle, courtesy of the local god," Brujaa shrugged.

"Ajani Rawl is dead, though," Donlan said.

"Where's Dinobot?" Brujaa asked.

The Maximals looked down.

"He died, saving the primitives here," Optimus explained.

Awkward silence.

"Well, we wouldn't want his sacrifice to be in vain. We'll have to take down the plant guy," Brujaa said.

"Come on, let's find him!" Donlan said, holding up his fist.

"Alright!" Cheetor shouted.

Maximal Base

Rhinox looked up at Optimus.

"Well, I got a lock on the disturbance. It's been there for a few months, I just didn't figure out what it is until you mentioned the anomaly again. Upload the coordinates... now," Rhinox said, pressing a few buttons.

Optimus extended a wire from the console onto his person. After a few seconds, he detached the wire.

"Alright. Let's go," Optimus said, signalling to Cheetor and Silverbolt.

Silverbolt was a dog with wings in his beast form, and it showed in robot form.

Predacon Base

"Megatron, there are three Maximals heading for the anomaly," a spider-like robot said.

"Thank you, Tarantulus. You, Inferno, and I will head them off. I believe that the creature in there has already been taken care of?" Megatron asked.

"Yes, my Queen! I vanquished it with my flames!" an ant-like bot, Inferno, declared, before shooting off, followed by Tarantulus.

"I told him not to call me that," Megatron growled, before transforming and zooming off.

A strange half-scorpion/half-snake transformed, muttering, before shouting:

"Why don't I get to kick some keisters!" Quickstrike shouted.

"Because the slag-sucking saurian needs you here, where you can kick the keisters of any Maximal who tries to invade. Obviously he trusts you, like I do," Blackarachnia said, seductively caressing his face with one of her spider-legs.

She so enjoyed playing her games with the Fuzor, even if she did have a thing for Silverbolt.

Jungle Hole

Seeing as how Maulire hadn't attained true power until much later, the Jungle Temple was just a hole that lead into a small set of rooms, eventually leading to Maulire Ragnok.

The Maximals darted through the rooms, avoiding traps without effort. Donlan and Brujaa had a little more trouble, which is why Brujaa had a spike in his arm and was spewing curses non-stop as Optimus began surgery on his arm.

This allowed the Predacons to sneak by them and continue into the next room.

A-A

Holding a huge freaking monster. It looked vaguely like a t-rex, if one had been on steroids, mutagens, and had inhaled a lot of radiation. It had multiple arms, was green, with several horns on its head and large spikes going down its back.

The Predacons' eyes widened as the door shut behind them. The guardian roared, spewing poisonous spittle, angering the second Megatron greatly.

"No one spits on the face of a conqueror," Megatron growled, as the tail-cannon emitted a small noise as it began glowing.

The Mutated Saurian charged at Megatron, ignoring the glowing of the laser cannon. Big mistake. The laser tore into his chest, ripping through it, causing it to fall immediately.

"Now for the trap. Predacons, behind the boulder," Megatron ordered.

The doors opened as the Maximals and the Adventurers walked through. The Predacons leapt out of their hiding spots, immediately firing upon the Maximals.

"GO! FIND THE DISTURBANCE AND STOP IT!" Optimus Primal shouted, returning fire.

The Adventurers nodded, darting off through the crossfire, intangible (as Donlan had become a Ghastly).

"Your time's up, Maximals!" Megatron shouted.

"For the glory of the colony, you shall BURN, MAXIMALS!" Inferno raged.

Tarantulus harrumphed at the banter as the lasers shot from his shoulder cannons rapidly.

For the record, the Maximals forced the Predacons to retreat after about 15 minutes of laser fire that's mostly too dull to describe.

A-A

Brujaa and Donlan cautiously entered the room where Maulire stood upon his throne.

"Ah... Adventurers... You've come to kill me?"

"Well, since you screw up the time line and are hostile... I guess?" Donlan semi-asked.

"No... that is not my nature... I was once known as Fist of the Volcano... Look at me now. A soul in turmoil. I had been released from my sealed state, only to discover that my enemies had been defeated. I have no reason to continue existing as I do without the Bindoes."

"So, you'll surrender?" Brujaa asked.

Thorny vines erupted around Donlan, encaging him painfully.

"SON OF A SANDWORM!" Donlan shouted in pain.

"What the hell?" Brujaa demanded.

"I must see if you are worthy of my power. Sorry," Maulire said.

Thorny vinces erupted around Brujaa, but were deflected, but by a shield unseen.

"Ha-buh?" Brujaa wondered.

"Yes. I thought so. You are the one the Dark Shadow spoke of. I will give you an ability most have killed themselves trying to learn," Maulire Ragnok said.

"Why are you doing this?" Brujaa asked.

"I told you child, I have no purpose now that my enemies are gone. Additionally, well, I am the father of the Rajran king that helped in spawning you," Maulire said.

With that, Maulire pulled out a red strand of energy from his forehead. The red strand zapped into Brujaa, knocking him out. Donlan had slipped into unconsciousness through the thorny vines beside him. The vines dispersed as a figure appeared. She wore a pink and green dress, with pink hair and a strange animal beside her. It had the body of a deer, an additional head of a wolf, and its tail was a cobra.

"Hello, Maulire," the Sage of the Forest and Wind said.

"Hello, Rose," Maulire said.

"You have finally made peace?" Rose asked, approaching Maulire.

"Yes, I have, love," Maulire replied.

Rose touched his face, and Maulire transformed. The mutated face reformed into that of a handsome man. Rose smiled as Maulire kissed her. They parted and looked at the Adventurers.

"You taught him you're Ecto Enhancement?" Rose asked.

"Yes. I believe it will be of use to the boy in the future. It was to me," Maulire said.

"These two have saved my temple, and thus, myself. Vogma, the Fire Sage, and I owe them our lives. We will pay them back one day."

Donland and Brujaa disappeared in a flash of pink.

"And I'll help."

Rose kissed Maulire again, as a beam of white light consumed them, zooming into the high heavens, before disappearing.

Shadow's Lab, 1 A.S.M.

Donlan and Brujaa appeared on the floor, slowly waking up as Shadow zipped through, examining a lot of chemicals. He stopped beside the pair.

"I suppose you fixed the timeline?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. The second one was freaking easy to deal with in the end. The first was fairly difficult. Also, I got to meet the Predacons and Maximals! Woo!" Brujaa declared.

"I agree. The second was a cop-out in so many more ways than one. The author just got tired of writing freaking fight scenes... I agree with him on that note, though. They do get old..." Donlan noted.

"By the way, I need a Power Scan. Both disturbances gave me new abilities. I'll need to know everything I can about the powers," Brujaa said.

"I'll arrange it soon," Shadow said.

A-A

A few weeks later, Brujaa was reading the reports given to him by Shadow in the main room of the Hunter Base, while Donlan played video games in the background. There had been no disturbances, which is why there would have to be one today. A man ran into the room and pointed at Brujaa.

"You! You monster!" the man shouted.

"Woah, what's up with you?" Brujaa asked.

The man tried to punch Brujaa, but the attack was avoided when he turned intangible.

"Seriously? What's your problem?" Brujaa asked, getting concerned.

Donlan had yet to notice, having gone into "the zone" of gaming lore.

"YOU KILLED MY VILLAGE YOU MONSTER!" the man roared, trying to swing again.

Brujaa caught the blow.

"Kill your village?" Brujaa asked.


	8. Ghosts: Seeing Red

_**Seeing Red**_

_**Well, hopefully, with the time travel mini-story done, I should be able to work on this a bit more than before. Hopefully. The only reason the man is who he is is because I got lazy and decided to go with that name because it wouldn't get out of my head until I typed it. Damn muse.**_

_**Things Not Original in this Chapter**_

_**William Turner - Character - Pirates of the Carribbean**_

_**Elizabeth - PotC**_

_**Captain Jack Sparrow - PotC**_

_**Foaly - Character - Artemis Fowl**_

_**Retina Scanner - Item - Artemis Fowl**_

Hunter Base, Popstar

"Kill your village?" Brujaa asked, holding the man's fist.

"You killed them all! FOR NO REASON! You swooped in and murdered almost everyone there! I was one of four survivors there, and that was because one of the local demi-ghosts gave his life for us to get away!" the man roared, trying to swing again.

Of course, by this point, even Donlan couldn't stay "in the zone", so his attention had become diverted to the man and Brujaa. This caused his character to be brutally stabbed by an enemy character. This made Donlan a mad panda. He turned off the game station and walked over to the man.

"Okay, you bust in here, accuse Brujaa, someone who saved the world, of murder, and you make me lose my latest progress on Kingdom Hearts 27. Who are you and who sent you to ruin our day?" Donlan asked, visibly angry.

"I am William Turner the second," William said.

"Weren't you a wanted man at some point? How do we know you didn't kill the village?" Brujaa asked.

"Because Elizabeth nearly died! She is at the hospital with my son, thanks to you," Will snapped.

"Okay, Will, let's say I did this. Do you have proof?" Brujaa asked.

"I saw you!"

"That won't hold up too well in any argument, because you could've been drunk or lying," Brujaa pointed out.

"The only lying drunkard I know is Captain Jack Sparrow, and believe me when I say I am far from him when it comes to such... habits," Will replied.

"First off, Shadow might have a device to scan him. Second... you know Captain Jack! HOW FREAKING AWESOME!" Donlan shouted.

Shadow's Lab

"A polygraph wouldn't work too well with anyone. However, Foaly and I have had many get-togethers where we show off our latest inventions. He has a special device that allows you to scan one's retinas and match it up with a certain shape to see if they've actually seen someone. Of course, the minute I saw it, I had to have it. He gave the blueprints in exchange for the blueprints for a monocle that allows you to see in a number of different ways. It was worth it considering I now have improved upon the Retina Scanner in such a way that I can actually see whole clips of what they saw by also accessing their memory lobe," Shadow said.

Everyone stared, trying to snap out of the stupor of having listened to Shadow's intelligence-stroking rant.

"Fire it up, or something," Donlan said.

Will sat down in the chair, as a strange helmet with a visor and camera-like device on top. The light were turned out and the camera-live device project the images onto the wall. Instantly, memories were shifted through, ranging from a squid-like person to a beautiful woman standing by a child.

"Think only of the images of last night," Shadow ordered.

Quickly, the images changed to a burning village and Brujaa in the center of all the destruction. Excuse me... Brujaa _was_ the center of all the destruction. A few seconds later, Shadow pressed a button, pausing the frame.

"There's an inconsistency, Will. Brujaa, your Phantom form is green, is it not?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. My energy is blue, though," Brujaa answered.

"While the one causing the destruction is identical to you in the face and body, his suit is different. It's red," Shadow said.

"Hah! I didn't do it, Will!" Brujaa shouted.

"You sound and look exactly like him," Will replied.

"Oh well. Not a part of me was in that village. So, nya nya nya nya nya nya!" Brujaa mocked.

"I wouldn't say that," Shadow said, turning on the lights.

"Excuse me?" Brujaa asked.

"We'll find out tonight. Will, rest assured that the one who attacked your village will be dealt with."

A-A

That night, a camera was placed in Brujaa's room. The recording is as follows:

Brujaa began shaking and jittering about, getting more and more violent, until a small tune was heard from his body. A red glow formed over his chest, and gradually, it grew larger, seeming to come from Brujaa. The glow gradually formed into corporeal being, greatly resembling Brujaa, only red, and incredibly buff.

The Red Brujaa shot through the wall, off to cause mischief.

A-A

"What the smoof?" Donlan asked.

"Has his Power Spirit been tampered with in any possible way? Was he given new power, somehow?" Shadow asked.

"Well, Ajani briefly possessed him. After that, he could fire intense energy rays. Then the other one copped out with some lame excuse not to fight, but apparently, he gave Brujaa some power too," Donlan replied.

"That's what caused it. His Power spiked in its energies so high in such a short amount of time just off of negative energies that it could exert its will on Brujaa. However, I don't know how he would've been able to get enough power to become corporeal. Such energy would require... The Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow shouted, startled.

The black hedgehog sped off towards the container and examined his set. Three were pure white.

"What happened?" Donlan asked.

"The Power Spirit managed to absorb all the negative energy from three of the Chaos Emeralds. We have to find a way to stop him," Shadow said, speeding back.

"How?"

"Well, he only absorbed three, when he had access to all seven..."

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking forced feeding frenzy."

Donlan smiled widely as Shadow went to select a very special gun.

A-A

Red Brujaa flew through the skies, looking about for a target. Having absorbed the negative energies, his anger had surged to insurmountable heights. He had to take out his rage on something before he exploded.

"Sup, Redman?" someone asked him from behind, before he was slammed.

Red Brujaa roared in anger as he fired two enormous energy beams into his attacker. A combination of Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Mew dodged and weaved through the beams, further angering Red Brujaa, causing his power to soar.

Donlan swooped down and delivered a cracking blow to Red Brujaa's gut with his foot, then delivered several brutal punches to the face. Red Brujaa hung in midair, barely even hovering, before he managed to react, the pain was so intense. Yet... so enraging. His Power was becoming too much.

"He exploded!" is what Donlan shouted later in retellings of the event.

Explode is basically what he did. Blue energy shot off in a field too rapidly for anything to dodge it. The field caused all momentum to cease completely. Donlan had a sense of déjà vu. Then he had the strangest sense in which the air compressed before a shockwave ripped through it. He was sent sailing into the ground, transforming into his normal form. Normal being used lightly.

Red Brujaa floated down, standing several yards from Donlan's aching form. Donlan tried to get up, but Red Brujaa blasted him with the overly massive Ghost Cannons, putting him down and out. The hatred and rage continued to burn in his eyes.

"You like Chaos energy? EAT THIS!" Shadow shouted.

Red Brujaa whirled, just in time to see Shadow holding a small, cylindrical device, before energy burst from it. Red Brujaa fell to his knees as his body tried desperately to absorb the energy, yet at the same time not to.

Then he did something Shadow didn't hope for, but had planned for anyways. Red Brujaa stood up, surrounded by the swirling energy, empowered beyond belief.

"OBIT!" Shadow shouted.

Red Brujaa sent off a wave of energy that crackled, then exploded through the night air, knocking Shadow to the ground. However, the man in black armor was unaffected as he leapt above the rock he had been concealed by. A burst of energy from the rocket pack on his back sent him in Red Brujaa's direction. He pulled out a sword, glowing bright with white light.

Red Brujaa tried to shoot energy at him that greatly resembled fire and lightning in his direction. The hits glanced off of Obit as he sped through the air in the magical armor.

In an instant, the mercenary sliced through Red Brujaa. However, instead of blood, black energy poured from him.

The Redemption Blade did its job well, as Red Brujaa fell to his knees, then dissipated, unable to keep a corporeal form, and no longer evil, regardless. Shadow pulled out a medallion, from which he pulled out the Chaos Emeralds, which absorbed the negative energies in the air. Immediately, the Chaos Emeralds were absorbed back into the medallion, which was then hung from Shadow's neck.

Obit walked over to Gerald's creation fused with Mile "Tails" Prower.

"My pay is in my account, is it not?" he asked.

Shadow held up his wrist, which had a watch-like device on it. A hologram was projected from it, with the most prominent words saying "TRANSFER COMPLETE".

"Good."

The fighter for hire activated his home warp, taking him to his base. He needed sleep.

A-A

The next day, Brujaa woke up, feeling like complete and total _crap._ He walked into the lab to find out anything about Will and all that nonsense about him killing a village.

Will stood up and approached Brujaa as soon as he entered the lab. Brujaa cringed. Will held out his hand.

"I would like to apologize for my mistake. As it turns out, you weren't responsible for the death of most of my village. I can't exactly be blamed for accusing you, but I am still embarrassed. Can you forgive me?" Will asked.

Brujaa shook his hand.

"Sure. Having seen that video, I would've done the same. Dunno if that's a comfort, but it's the best I can do," Brujaa replied.

"I bid you good day. I need to see my wife."

With that, Will Turner left the Hunter Base.

Shadow hovered over to Brujaa.

"Why do I feel like I exploded?" Brujaa asked.

Shadow laughed, then began to explain everything that happened the previous night.


	9. Ghosts: The Clash

_**The Clash**_

_**I've heard that my fight scenes are hard to read from a friend, though he has yet to be able to pinpoint why exactly they're difficult to read. I'd try to work on it... but I don't know what, specifically, to work on. If anyone else can pinpoint what seems to be wrong with my fight scenes, please do. If they need help, I'd like to be the first to hear about it.**_

_**Of course, he also mentioned short chapters, but I try hard just to get out over 1,000 words. He's explained to me that it's only five minutes reading.**_

_**Anyone else who feels the same needs to be reassured, I will try my hardest to raise my stanrdards bar. I will try for 2,000 words or more per chapter from here on out. This will cut back slightly on updates, but they'll be worth the wait a bit more, right?**_

_**On the story: interestingly enough, the character Brujaa has inspired, at one point, also trained constantly over the course of a month with a sword. Of course, that character is still in the editing process, but I do find it interesting that I did in unintentionally.**_

_**THINGS NOT ORIGINAL IN THIS CHAPTER**_

_**George and Lightning - (Name and Element in combination) Bob and George**_

_**Link - Character - Legend of Zelda (Game Series)**_

_**Obi-Wan - Character - Star Wars**_

_**Pit - Character - Kid Icarus**_

_**Fighter - Character - Final Fantasy (One)**_

_**Elf - Species**_

_**Dragovian - Name - Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Game)**_

Popstar News

"So, we're here, where another renegade half ghost, identified as Martin Ross, has been apprehended by the heroic duo, Brujaa and Donlan," a female report, Mia Tula, said, approaching the two heroes.

"What would you say is your success?" Mia asked.

"Eh. I'm some uber half-ghost sword master. He's a metamorphous thing with _intimate_ knowledge of what he transforms into... err... no innuendo intended, so stop writing those fanfics, fan brats! Of course that's why we succeed. That... and Martin was trying to rob a bank with a handgun despite his ghost powers," Brujaa said, shrugging.

"That was truly enlightening. Here's George with the weather."

_"Lotsa' lightning, bitches!"_

"Oh Sages, he's on the bottle again," Mia muttered, thankfully off camera.

Home in the Mountains

The man was in a mostly Spartan room. There was a bed, logs, television, and a rack of swords. The man wore gray samurai pants, armbands, and a headband. He held a sword in his hand, which he was practicing with, as he listened to the news, mostly out of amusement. However, upon hearing the latest news, he was not amused.

"So, someone has claimed to be a swords master?" he asked himself, slicing the air with finesse.

A rock flew into the room through an open window. Instinctively, his sword swung. The rock flew on, then hit the wall.

It fell in two different places.

"I will have to test this... Brujaa."

Popstar, Hunter Base

Brujaa did sit-ups in the base as Donlan played video games, in a mostly casual manner.

"Why the sudden interest in bulking up? We get enough exercise during fights," Donlan asked.

"The more stamina... the longer we can fight. These new... powers... take up... a lot more... energy... than my other... powers," Brujaa said, huffing in between words.

"Have you even tested that theory?" Donlan replied.

"Of... course... I tried... the ecto-fire... almost... blacked... out... immediately... after... wards. Hoo-boy," Brujaa replied.

"Sucks to be you. I have great stamina. It's great in fights... and in bed," Donlan said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"How many girls have you talked to successfully other than a reporter?" Brujaa asked, getting ready to start doing push-ups.

"Umm... two. The first gave me digits, but I lost the scrap of paper with them almost immediately afterwards. The second... didn't give me her number in the first place," Donlan admitted.

"She gave you pepper spray, didn't she?"

"Yeah... That crap that she used is supposed to burn for a good hour, or so I'm told. The burning went away after a few moments. Maybe it was my Pokemon abilities?"

"Entirely... possible..."

The phone rang, and Donlan picked it up.

"Yeah? Ah-huh. Alright. Thanks. Bye."

"Who... was... it?" Brujaa asked, still doing push-ups.

"There's a battle challenge for you. Some guy named Bladeka wants to fight you," Donlan said.

"Sonuva... You got any of those refresher drinks on you? I'm tired right now," Brujaa said.

Donlan handed him a black and red can marked 'Black Hedgehog'. Brujaa chugged it, regaining his energy due to the strange mixture of chemicals and artificial flavors Shadow cooked up.

Brujaa picked up a small tube-like device, called an Ecto-Hilt, which helped him focus his energy into a sword. It was a lot more slender and shorter than a lightsaber, so don't sue, damn it.

Outside the Hunter Base

The man sat in a meditative pose in the garden when Brujaa walked out.

"Sup?" Brujaa asked.

"Are you the one who claims to be a master of the blade?" the man asked.

"Umm... yeah, I remember that. You're Bladeka?" Brujaa asked.

"Yes, I am."

Bladeka stood up and unsheathed his blade, a katana. Brujaa poured energy into the Ecto-Hilt, and the blue ecto-blade shone to life.

"Make the first move," Bladeka said.

Brujaa didn't underestimate the man, but he did take the bait. He swiped at Bladeka, who sliced harder, stunning Brujaa temporarily with the shock. Bladeka sliced across Brujaa's stomach, causing him to bend over in the sudden, sharp pain. Bladeka kicked him the face. Brujaa flew back, blood streaming from his nose. Bladeka made another slice at Brujaa, but actually missed.

Brujaa stumbled a bit before regaining balance. Bladeka held the blade to his throat.

"You are no master of the grand most noble craft of blade-wielding. Until you beat me, I will not suffer such blasphemies to be uttered from your lips," Bladeka spat.

"Alrighty then," Brujaa said, still in pain.

Bladeka sheathed his sword and walked off to a safe place to activate his teleporter.

"Sonuva bitch!" Brujaa swore at the night.

Hunter Base

"Record time for kicking a villian's ass. Well done," Donlan said.

"Didn't beat him," Brujaa grumbled.

"What? You tied?" Donlan asked.

"Lost," Brujaa said, continuing to his room.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to practice my sword-fighting in the simulator in my room. Shut up, play your game, and leave me alone," Brujaa growled.

"Hey, there's blood on the carpet. That wasn't there before," Donlan said.

"I'll fix that in a minute."

"Your cut or the blood?"

"The cut. The Base can deal with the blood."

The door slammed shut, and Donlan continued zooming through levels at high speed on his video game.

A-A

"Hey, Donlan, have you seen Brujaa?" Sonic asked.

"He's been in his room for a week now. I'm not sure if he's coming out anytime soon," Donlan replied with a shrug.

"What got him so worked up and broody?" Sonic asked.

"Ever since that sword guy... Bladeka beat Brujaa, he's been training almost nonstop. The food delivery system and private bathrooms makes it so that we don't have to have any sort of social contact. It's one time I could do without Shadow's genius," Donlan admitted.

"Bladeka... hmmm... sounds familiar. I think Knuckles mentioned him at some point. I'll go ask him."

"Thanks."

A-A

Brujaa huffed, desperately trying to get his breath back. His muscles were on fire, but he absolutely refused to give up. He had logged well over 100 hours in the simulator. There's 168 hours in a week, to note. That means about 68 hours of sleep, eating, and breaks. Yeah. He was officially obsessed. Losing had that effect on Brujaa.

The faceless enemy lunged at him, but he parried the blow and attempted a swing. The faceless enemy knocked the sword down to the ground, then sliced across Brujaa's face. The simulation cut off, and Brujaa collapsed.

"Son... of... a..."

A-A

Donlan looked at some weights, then over at some pizza.

Pizza.

Weights.

Pizza.

Weights.

Pizza.

Weights.

Laziness.

Work.

"Well, when I put it that way," Donlan said aloud, grabbing the slice.

"Yo. I talked to Knuckles, who told me to go to Link, who told me to go to Obi-Wan," Sonic said.

"And?" Donlan asked, with a mouthful of pizza.

"I'm hungry."

Sonic disappeared in blur of movement. A minute later, he came back with a chili dog.

"That took longer than expected," Donlan noted.

"The chili dog vendor was harder to find than normal."

"You were talking about Obi-Wan."

"Oh yeah. He told me to see Pit, who sent me over to Fighter. He told me all about Bladeka."

"If you see the author being lynched, know that it's your fault for prolonging the delivery of information about Bladeka," Donlan said, face-palming.

"Yeah, anyways. Apparently, Bladeka is an Elf," Sonic replied, offhandedly.

"Does Popstar even have Elves?" Donlan asked.

"Oh, he moved here from Dragon Star," Sonic said.

"Elves live on Dragon Star?" Donlan asked.

"There was some complex backstory on it, but to sum up, Elves are basically Dragons in human form. They got stuck as humanoids because of some spell. On Dragon Star, they're called Dragovians. So, Bladeka is probably in his hundreds. Also, Elves are able to wield a sword better than most humans almost naturally. It's no wonder that Brujaa was beaten so fast," Sonic said, shrugging.

"Should I tell him?" Donlan asked.

"He'll only train harder and longer," Sonic pointed out.

"Yeah, but he'll probably do it anyways when Bladeka beats him again," Donlan said.

"Damn right I would."

Donlan whirled around.

"At least I know how he beat me so quickly. I came out for some fresh air, rather than the simulator. Just in time, too, I see," Brujaa said.

"Man, I was going to tell you," Donlan said.

"And for that I thank you. Now I know which style to train specifically in," Brujaa said.

"What?" Donlan asked.

"I've been training in a bunch of sword styles. Now I know to work on Dragovian sword and fighting styles. I won't be coming out unless necessary," Brujaa said.

"That went well," Sonic said.

"Shut up and die, spiky."

A-A

Sweat poured down his face as Brujaa checked out his logged hours. 53:27. In fifty-three hours and change, he had managed to train himself to sword-fight against a Dragovian and hold his own for a good while. All those push-ups and sit-ups had helped a lot.

Now, he had to make sure he could beat a Dragovian with a sword.

A-A

330:21. He had done it. He could actually beat a Dragovian with a sword and hold his own in a fisticuffs fight. Since Bladeka only wanted to test his sword skills, he was certain he'd only need to use the agility and grace it had taught him, although he might need it for a few blows every now and then.

Now, he just needed to find a way to contact Bladeka. Well, he had seen the news before, obviously, so maybe he'd catch it again.

A-A

Bladeka struck blow after blow against the air, listening somewhat to the news. The boy he fought had been pathetic, yet he still wanted to listen to the news to hear about him. Brujaa had been an insult to swordsmen, and he wanted to make sure he couldn't continue to insult the workers of his craft.

Bladeka heard his name coming from the television, so he stopped and paid full attention.

"Attention to a man by the name of Bladeka. Brujaa is challenging you to a duel once more at the Hunter Base. This is a private matter, however, so any media is required by the hero protection law to stay away," the reporter said.

Bladeka cut off the TV and stroked his chin.

"Interesting."

A-A

Brujaa stood in front of the Hunter Base, Ecto-Hilt in hand. Bladeka appeared and walked towards him.

"You trained, I presume? It has been about a month, has it not?" Bladeka asked.

"Yeah. It's been a month alright. It's been one hell of a month, too. Nothing but training, training, and training," Brujaa said.

"So, you are ready?" Bladeka asked.

"Hell yeah."

"First move goes to you."

Brujaa charged.

Dream Star

Dark Shadow watched in amusement as Brujaa and Bladeka clashed, furiously. He watched for a few minutes, and the outcome became clear. So, he began searching through Popstar. Quickly, he found the jail, then he found the specific cell.

Magical energies were spun upon the prisoner, who disappeared.

Hunter Base

Brujaa fell to one knee, cursing. Bladeka pointed the sword at his forehead.

"You have improved. But you are still far too weak. You may never beat me, but you have at least earned the title of a sword wielder, and not just a sword swinger," Bladeka said, somewhat impressed.

"That's not good enough," Brujaa growled.

Normally, Brujaa wouldn't have cared about being a swords master. It would be cool, sure, but nothing he would've worked endlessly for. However, he had been challenged and lost. Now, his competitive streak had shown its ugliest side as he had become obsessed with beating Bladeka, the first person to beat him.

"Be content. I have trained for decades. You have trained for a few months," Bladeka said.

"I'll beat you one day. I swear it."

"I hope so. A better swordsman is always what brings others to wield the most noble weapon."

With that, Bladeka disappeared, but not of his own accord.

Dream Star

Dark Shadow surveyed the two he had teleported.

"Pokkit, the Pokemon master. Bladeka, the sword master," Dark Shadow said, amused.

"Why am I here? Who are you people? What the deuce, man?" Pokkit asked.

Bladeka pointed his katana at Dark Shadow.

"What are you? You have the Crysalis Curse, yet I sense divine energies within you as well," Bladeka said, his eyes narrowed.

"Bah. I'm getting revenge. I need you two to pass the time as I wait for the bastard to come out of hiding," Dark Shadow said.

Pokkit and Bladeka fell to their knees, writhing in pain. A girl stepped out from behind them, walking towards Dark Shadow and stopping about three yards in front of him.

"Good job with the darts," Dark Shadow said.

The girl nodded, "thank you, master."

"Now then, apprentice. Please fetch Enverse," Dark Shadow ordered.

The girl bowed, turned, and walked off to carry out her master's instructions.


	10. Ghosts: Masters

_**Master**_

_**Does anyone know what it is about my fight scenes? I tried hard to avoid writing them, as you could tell, last chapter, and succeeded fairly well. Now, though, there will have to be a fight scene. See if I've improved, if you would, Ocil.**_

_**Did you know that reason contradicts its own principles outside of its established system?**_

_**You can thank DarkeningShadow for that quote. It makes my brain bleed.**_

_**THINGS NOT ORIGINAL IN THIS CHAPTER**_

_**Igor - Name of Character - Frankenstein**_

_**Zero Suit Samus - Character - Super Smash Bros Brawl/Metroid Series**_

_**Pit - Character - Kid Icarus/SSBB**_

_**Meta Knight - Kirby Series/SSBB**_

_**G0-T0 – Name of Character – Star Wars: KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords**_

Dream Star

The girl returned, a ghost in tow. The ghost wore a gray cloak and had wild green hair.

"What is your wish, dearest Dark Shadow?" Enverse asked, bowing.

"Stop your sniveling. I'll need you to possess the result of the upcoming fusion," Dark Shadow ordered.

"Yes, master."

"Shut up, Igor."

Enverse muttered something. The girl smacked him, hissing something about respect, but Dark Shadow wasn't paying attention. Pokkit and Bladeka began to waver in their shape, becoming more ethereal. Unable to move on their own, they began to flow towards each other. They touched, and immediately swirled together into a cocoon of strange energy.

The cocoon took shape once more. It looked like Bladeka, only with Pokkit's armor, which was essentially a red version of the suit in Pokémon Coliseum. Bladeka's silver hair, green eyes, and pointed ears looked odd when placed upon the strange suit.

"Now," Dark Shadow ordered.

Enverse cackled as he flew into the merger, fresh from the process, so his defenses were weak.

"Check me out, I'm Bladekkit!" Enverse (to be called Bladekkit) shouted.

There was a reason as to why Enverse was so valued as a servant of the Dark Shadow. He could take control of almost anything, but in such a way that he didn't just wield their body. He could use all the skills and knowledge of the possessed victim effortlessly.

"Now then, you will go find Brujaa and Donlan. Kill them," Dark Shadow said.

Bladekkit vanished as instructed, off to Popstar.

"Sir, are you sure fatal force is necessary with these two? They haven't caused you a personal grievance, have they?" the girl asked.

"Quite the contrary, Arren. I've probably caused them a personal grievance at some point before they were even born," Dark Shadow chuckled.

Arren looked at him, clearly confused, but as he did not continue, she didn't press the issue.

Popstar

Bladekkit appeared in a clearing. Pokeballs appeared, and the Pocket Monsters emerged, ready to maul. Three Pokémon, mostly black as pitch, darted off in several different directions. You could smell the havoc.

A-A

The woman twirled through the city in a tight blue suit, her blonde hair whipping all about her as she went. Finally, she managed to stop, having got out from the crowd of civilians fleeing from the monstrosity.

Samus Aran wore her Zero Suit beneath normal attire so as to appear less conspicuous. Right now, she was wondering if that was a bad choice as she pulled her pistol and aimed it at the demonic dog. She remembered that it was called a Houndoom by Donlan. Whatever it was, it would definitely have to die.

The shot flew through the air, but narrowly missed. Damn it! She needed her targeting equipment. Wait.

She picked up the jacket she had been wearing and slipped a small device out of it, the attached it to her ear. Instantly, a small piece of glass attached to the device lengthened then folded in front of her eye. The closest thing to this device, in appearance, were those Scout Readers from DBZ.

The Houndoom, obviously aware of her presence, snarled before lunging at Samus. Another shot grazed its side, but she wasn't able to get off another shot. It crashed into her, scratching and biting furiously, tearing off bits and pieces of the suit. Samus prayed desperately that all the male citizens had cleared out of the vicinity. She'd never hear the end of it in any case.

After a moment or two of that, she managed to grab one of its claws, then shoved it to the side. The Paralyzer snapped up and a whip made of energy formed, then lashed the demon dog across the face, causing to yip in pain.

Samus leapt up, praising her luck that there wasn't anyone around. As it happened, she would later curse her luck, as someone who worked for Playboy got an effective snapshot of her. Sure, she wasn't X-rated, but children definitely shouldn't have seen her at that point, and she was such a hard target for such pictures it was worth several grand. Just if you were wondering.

Houndoom righted itself and shot a fireball at Samus, who leapt over it, turning her whip back into the gun and shooting Houndoom straight the its still open mouth. Blood sprayed from the back of its head as the laser tore though it. The dog from hell gurgled in an attempt at a moan before collapsing.

Samus glared at the dog as she slipped her shirt back on and pulled out a cell phone from the jacket.

"Shadow, I need to report that there's been a monster attack. I'll send you a picture you for identification," Samus said.

_"Alright. Got the picture. It's a Houndoom, a type of Pokémon. They're mostly on Dark Star. They don't make good pets. Did it attack in civilization or did you find it?"_

"It attacked the Java Java Shop. Fortunately, I was having a drink here," Samus replied.

_"Okay. I'll keep my eyes peeled and ears perked for any more information. You wanna' hear more?"_

"Yeah. I'd like to hear more."

_"I'll keep you posted."_

Samus hung up, slipped the cell phone back into her jacket's pocket, thankful it covered her mostly exposed cleavage, and hurried back to the Hunter Base.

A-A

Meta Knight and The Waddle Dee Who Loved Nature, nicknamed Dee, had recently started training. You see, Dee always got the crap kicked out of him by nature, whether it be by bees, mutant moths that existed for no reason other than to cause him pain, bears, or anything else really. Dee, despite doing everything he could, seemed to be hated by Nature.

So, Meta Knight was training him to wield a sword and have some degree of "hand-to-hand", if you could call it that, considering the lack of actual hands.

Meta Knight parried a blow from Dee, then leaped back. He landed, rolled back, and stood up straight in time to see the beam of dark energy blaze passed him. The yellow rings enflamed, burning brightly as the red eyes locked with Meta Knight's yellow ones.

Umbreon pounced where Meta Knight had been, then reached out a claw, scratching through Meta Knight's plate, actually knocking it away. Meta Knight's yellow eyes glared furiously, his white eyebrows furrowed. Galaxia shone with great power, and Meta Knight took to the sky, his cape turning into wings. Umbreon's legs bent at an angle, ready to leap away. Unfortunately for it, Dee jumped on him and managed to slice its back. Umbreon howled, falling on its side.

Dee leapt away, and the Sword Beam allowed Umbreon to actually see its tail without turning its head. Of course, it only lasted a moment, then all its eyes could register was darkness.

Dee picked up the silver mask, which Meta Knight took with a look of thanks, before slipping it on.

"Did I do good?" Dee asked.

"Very good. Now, come with me. We'll need to report this to Shadow," Meta Knight said.

Of course, they were hindered when trout that could somehow fly swarmed Dee. Oh, and when literally billions of ants decided to randomly group and attempt to kill Dee. That took a while to get through.

Dee wondered why he still loved Nature. It seemed to hate _him_.

A-A

The angelic figure jumped from building to building, having felt the evil presence. His scanner had told him that the other two sources of evil had met up with members of the Hunter Base already, but this next one had not.

Haunter cackled as its claws flew out towards Pit, who rolled under it, then came up with the Palutena Blades. Haunter screeched as two gashes were formed upon its torso/face. Divine energies can affect anything.

Pit leapt up and kicked off of Haunter into the sky. He formed temporary wings of heavenly energies, flying higher as he merged the Palutena Blades into the Palutena Bow. An arrow of blue and white energy flew from it. It actually curved in its path of movement, cutting into Haunter. The ghost/poison pokémon shouted, then threw something strange into Pit.

The angel immediately fell into a state of sleepiness, falling to the ground. Haunter cackled, shooting purple energy into him. Pit twitched and howled in his sleep. Dream eater.

Haunter then summoned up a ball of black and purple energy, which he batted into Pit. The ground at the angel's feet exploding, sending him high into the sky. He fell to the dirt, awake now. He leapt up, and another Palutena Arrow flew into Haunter, stunning him as it struck him.

Then another.

Pit walked closer.

Another.

Closer.

Another.

Closer.

Another.

Closer.

Another.

Closer.

Another.

Pit was right in front of him.

Another.

The Bow snapped in two, and Pit jabbed them both through Haunter's form, then tore them free once more. Haunter howled in pain as it fell, dying.

Pit turned around, leaping, flying, and running back to the Hunter Base.

Hunter Base

Pit, Samus, Meta Knight, and Dee all stood, with a few other noteworthy heroes around them. Shadow sat at his computer, typing away like a madman. After a moment or two of it, he turned around.

"What was the source of the evils?" Pit asked.

"According to my scanners, the Pokémon seemed to have come from this clearing. I don't know how, exactly, but apparently they did. This was obviously a coordinated attack, but casualties weren't care about or planned, because they all seemed to know where heroes were," Shadow said.

"Well, there are heroes _everywhere_. It's hard not to see one anywhere on Popstar," Dee pointed out.

Bees appeared from nowhere and chased him out of the lab. Everyone decided to ignore that it happened. When Nature hated someone, it defied to break its own laws to get them. The heroes decided not to get on its bad side.

"Regardless, we'll need to find the source and neutralize it, whether by capture, killing, destroying, whatever," Shadow said.

"Can't you get a visual?" Samus asked.

"Hmm… Yes, I can. I have a special kind of bot. I got the plans from G0-T0. I call it Cam," Shadow said.

The strange, yellow orb with a camera and blinking red light floated in from another part of the lab.

"Cam, go to Epsilon-Cyan-Fifty-Twenty-Twenty-One," Shadow ordered.

The orb zoomed off at high speeds. Shadow turned back to his computer, getting Cam's sights.

Trees.

Trees.

Trees.

Rocks.

Trees.

Trees.

Hot dog stand.

Trees.

Clearing. Cam stopped, and they all saw Bladekkit in a meditative pose. Of course, he was now getting up, having heard Cam.

"Whoever's getting this recording, tell Brujaa and Donlan to come here immediately," Bladekkit ordered.

A Wartortle appeared, and Cam was shattered to pieces.

"Sonuva!" Shadow shouted.

Brujaa and Donlan both finished the statement at the same time, as per usual.

"Let's go," they said, taking off.

Clearing

Bladekkit looked around. Surely the two would be here in a few minutes. It's why he sent the Pokémon, after all.

A fireball hit the grass, and the clearing was consumed almost immediately. A Blastoise burst from its place of rest, pumping water everywhere.

"Your attack was pathetic!" Bladekkit shouted, holding his sword high in the sky.

Something to note about the clearing was that it sloped, like a bowl. Blastoise shot out enough water that Bladekkit was standing in a large puddle that actually rose above his ankles. With his sword pointed up into the sky.

"Your knowledge is even worse!" Brujaa shouted.

Ecto-lightning shot from his hand, and Bladekkit was sent into a twitching fit. Then Donlan dropped onto the clearing as an Electebuzz, adding his own voltage to the attack.

Bladekkit then started laughing.

"What?" Brujaa wondered aloud.

"The suit channels electricity into itself, leaving me unharmed!"

"Oh snap!" both Brujaa and Donlan shouted.

Bladekkit leapt at Brujaa, sword in hand. Brujaa formed the Ecto blade, and the two clashed hard and fast.

Donlan flew towards him as Dragonite, claws extended. Bladekkit laughed and released a Gyardoas, which roared. The atrocious pokemon fired a Hyper Beam that Donlan avoided. Donlan retaliated with a burst of electricity that fried the gigantic Pokémon.

The morpher had been training a lot.

Donlan turned his attention back to Bladekkit, who only had one Pokémon left. Ho-oh appeared, and Donlan transformed into a mixture of Lugia, Rayquaza, and Dragonite.

This Ho-oh, a giant bird known for its rainbow feathers and golden crest, was different. It was black as pitch.

Donlan spewed elements of every sort towards the obsidian creation. They all bounced off it, slamming Donlan to the ground.

Brujaa was having just as much trouble. Cuts covered his body, alongside bruises, while Bladekkit was hardly even touched.

That's when help arrived.

Pit dropped on top of Ho-oh, Palutena blades in hands. The demonic Pokémon screeched as they pierced its flesh. Bright light surrounded it, and it became a normal Pokémon.

Donlan creaked back to his feet, and morphed into Mewtwo. A spear of mental energy struck Ho-oh again and again and again, while Pit continued to relentlessly stab it.

It fell with a screech.

A-A

Brujaa fell on his butt, and Bladekkit pointed his sword at him. He was beaten. A blast from behind him forced him over Brujaa. He regained his composure quickly, then he was knocked to his feet by Meta Knight.

Samus, in her Power Suit, emerged from the clearing, Shadow behind her. He wore gauntlets with claws on his hands.

"Stun him," Shadow ordered.

Samus complied with the order, and Bladekkit fell back again. Shadow was in front of him in a flash, then the claws were digging into him. Bladekkit roared in agony. Energy pulsed through the claws, and Bladekkit became a strange cocoon of energy, then was dispersed.

Energy came back together, forming Enverse, Bladeka, and Pokkit. Enverse dispersed in a sudden burst of energy, then Pokkit was put in cuffs by Shadow.

Dream Star

"Hmmm… Brujaa and Donlan are stronger than I thought. They lasted long enough for help to arrive," Dark Shadow said.

"That hardly proves strength, master," Arren said.

"I have peered into other possibilities. Brujaa and Donlan, after a while, would have succeeded after a lot of training. Now, though, they will train because they know they would have lost. It achieves the same end," Dark Shadow said.

"What now, master?" Arren asked.

"I have a feeling Enverse will want something for his services. I will wait until then for him to ask," Dark Shadow said.

"Yes, master," Arren replied.


	11. Experiments: Ohana They Ain't

_**Ohana, They Ain't**_

_**Make a mental note: Arcs that seem pointless... probably aren't. This is one example. **_

_**Also, the Nightlark in this chapter is only named for the writer Nightlark. They aren't similar in any way other than that.**_

_**Finally, for the TNOiTC, I'm using the incarnation of Cloud from Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts, which is why he's listed as both FFVII, KH, and AC, while Nanaki wasn't.**_

_**Things Not Original in This Chapter**_

_**Idea of Experiments - Plot - Lilo & Stitch the Series**_

_**Nanaki - Character - Final Fantasy VII**_

_**Cloud - Character - Final Fantasy VII/Advent Children/KH**_

Dream Star

"What is it you _want_, Enverse?" Dark Shadow demanded.

"What I want, Dark Shadow, is a host. I need a body to create my experiments. Yours would be preferable-"

"No."

"I figured such. Where can I find a proper body to do my bidding? Being a full, yet weak, spirit, rather than one of those half-ghosts, I cannot operate the lab I'll need to wreak the havoc you desire," Enverse replied.

"I'd suggest Donlan. He has displayed an unusual amount of intelligence. It might prove useful, along with his access to Shadow's technology. Additionally... I've seen his latest invention. It may be useful."

"Yes, master."

Enverse disappeared, and Dark Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. He had his uses, but he was also _ridiculously_ annoying. Arren approached him from the side.

"Master, the operative Duak has told me of his plan. You may be interested in it," she said.

Shadow's Lab

Donlan worked on a strange machine. It looked mostly like a table with a window in the center of it. It was red with weird blue orbs, knobs, levers, and panels on it.

"Whatcha' working on?" Brujaa asked.

"I was bored while you were training for a month, so Shadow actually convinced me to do something not-lazy. So, I decided to make a device to help create living creatures," Donlan said.

"Living creatures?" Brujaa asked.

"Yeah. Through a mix of magical and scientific resources, I can actually manage to create a body. It can also create a mind for it to follow instincts and orders of the one who created them/it/whatever," Donlan explained.

"Ah-huh."

"I'm proud of what I did. Of course, Shadow and Nanaki helped out with technology and magic respectively, but oh well," Donlan shrugged.

"That's nice."

"Did you pay attention?"

"No."

Donlan sighed as Brujaa turned and walked away. He unrolled the blueprints to the device, put on a strange helmet, which apparently let him scan the machine, because he pumped his fist into the air.

"It's finished!"

Worst timing ever.

Enverse floated in, unnoticed, and disappeared into Donlan's back. He glowed briefly, before returning to "normal", and Donlan found himself a puppet, with Enverse pulling the strings. Shadow floated over to him, before dropping to his feet.

"Alright. So, what will your first be?" Shadow asked.

"Hmmm... lemme think for a moment," Enverse said.

He then went to work, twisting knobs, pulling levers, and pushing buttons. The machines scanned him as he worked, and finally projected the image of a strange, robotic-like device. It had no legs or arms. Instead, it had what looked like a chair that could rotate and orb-like shoulders with wires that emerged.

YES and NO was projected.

"Yes."

Experiment 01 was born in a flash of light. The strange robot immediately rushed over on the hover chair and the wires hooked up to Shadow's computer.

"So you developed a robot that can access a computer?" Shadow asked.

"It can access any information on the internet at the speed of light," Enverse said.

_'And that was just a test...' _he thought to himself.

Enverse went back to work.

This time, the robot had hover legs, an orb attached to a rod for an arm, and the other arm was given up in place of a strange box-like device.

"What's this one?" Shadow wondered aloud.

"Well, Database over there may have some needs or wants. This thing is an omni-bot to help him when he needs stuff. They have a link, so Omni can be given orders by Database to serve him better. That orb is a laser, but the energy can form tools and whatnot," Enverse said.

"Hmmm... they have strange programming, according to my scanners," Shadow said.

Experiment 02 Omni came into existence in a rare fusion of science and magic. It immediately jetted over to Database and proceeded to hover by it.

The next one had some organic properties for sure. It was just covered in armor, and was rather hulking for three feet. Enverse didn't quite have the hang of it just yet.

Shadow covered his eyes, an affectation, as Goliath leaped into the world, then backhanded him. Shadow flew back, then righted himself. He looked around as he noted that the lab doors shut down and energy pulsed through the walls. There was no escape. Database made sure of that.

Goliath tried to attack again, but Shadow dodged it, before attacking the experiment via homing attack. Goliath stumbled, then fell when attacked again. Enverse became a whirl of motion as he operated the machine. He barked out "yes" and a blur of light shot into Shadow before he could do further damage. It slowed down long enough for Shadow to get a good look at it. It had armored boots and a helmet. Other than that, it looked somewhat like a raptor, only about three feet. The helmet had two large eyeholes and two tendrils that extended from it, crackling with electricity.

"Meet Mach Ten," Enverse sneered

"Why are you doing this, Donlan?" Shadow demanded.

"Because I'm not Donlan. I'm Enverse!" Enverse snapped.

Shadow attempted a homing attack on Mach Ten, but when connected, he hit the tendrils. Bolts of electricity flooded his system, and he fell to the ground, twitching and ticking as his systems tried to reboot.

"That takes care of him for the moment," Enverse said, chuckling at the fallen robot's misery.

Several more experiments flashed to life.

Some strange reptile-like bird without limbs other than its wings called Zephyr.

Archangel, a golden being with white wings and robes, flew out to cause havoc.

Something that looked faintly like a seal with a crystal in its head waddled out of the machine, then suddenly began to hover and shot about, looking for what it needed to help. Enverse called it Pulse.

A chameleon with a wheel for its back legs and some odd device on its head crawled about the lab, then turned invisible and exited the lab, to spy. Considering its James Bond-like demeanor, Enverse named it Chameleonds.

An ooze inside a very small ship (about two feet wide and tall) with a laser on it emerged into the status of living. It looked at Pulse, who was starting to make it dizzy with its constant movement. Its eyes turned blue, and so did Pulse's, then the seal-like experiment stopped. It was then called Siyon.

A black wolverine slashed ferally as soon as it began to breathe. Siyon quieted it with its abilities, then the two flew off, Siyon by the ship, and Nitemare, the wolverine experiment, by Siyon's well-developed mental powers.

The next thing looked like a turtle, but it had quills all over its shell. Quill Bomb was taken by the tuxedo-wearing experiment called Black Hole, who could form warp holes.

A ball wrapped in bandages with a single appeared. Then another. And another. And another. The Soccer Mummies rolled off to create chaos.

A gem floated from the machine, but just hovered there. Then, a mirror formed. Stratagem and Mirror attached to one another, created a clone of Donlan, who held them and walked off with them.

The next looked like a hulked-up soldier with a large cannon on his right arm. His right eye was actually a strange, silver orb. Considering his obvious love of guns, the soldier was called FPS, just before he ran off, his commando boots clunking against the metal floor.

Hexabyte, some strange clawed creature who was like a djinn from the waist down in the fact that it was energy, rather than actual limbs. It was humanoid above the waist, and it had virus-like qualities, thus the name. It zapped off to cause mayhem.

A medieval soldier with a cape, called Reaper, warped through its shadow. A beautiful woman-like creature, called Banshee, walked towards the other areas of the Hunter Base. The final experiment had wings unfurling from its back as it stood up. Black hair cascaded down its back to its waist. The purple eyes gazed across the lab.

This was his crowning achievement. Nightlark.

Enverse cackled as the pinnacle of his works flew through the open window and out into the world. Chaos could only come of it.

A few moments later, though, Brujaa and Cloud burst through the door. That sort of killed Enverse's good mood.

"He's possessed!" Cloud immediately shouted, having used the powers of darkness he obtained some time ago.

Brujaa nodded, then took off towards Enverse at high speeds. Enverse gasped as he was slammed into by Brujaa, then as he slammed into the floor. He tried to get up, but he found Cloud's boot on his chest, with the Buster Sword pointing at his face.

"Do it, Cloud, and Donlan dies. I'll live, though," Enverse sneered.

"Which is why he won't shank you."

Enverse stared at Brujaa questioningly. Then the dark power surged into him, and Envere found himself looking at Donlan, who was starting to recover from the possession.

"Kill him dead!" Donlan shouted.

Brujaa sent ecto-lightning streaming into Enverse, who howled in pain. Then it stopped, and Enverse stared around.

"What did you create?" Brujaa demanded.

"The boy knows everything about them," Enverse spat.

"Exactly! So kill him until he dies!" Donlan ordered.

"Alright."

"What?" Enverse asked.

The ecto-lightning tore into him, then the Buster Sword, coated in darkness, pierced his torso. He howled in pain, until he finally was forced into the realm of the dead.

Brujaa dropped on one knee, breathing heavily.

"What'd you create?" Brujaa asked.

"About twenty things, all uber freaking powerful. Right now, they're a tad confused, so we have an advantage over, say, the four in the lab with us right now," Donlan replied.

Two pillars of light shone down through the ceiling.

"Hello, heroes of Popstar. I have a feeling we can help."

The light cleared away to reveal Rose and Vogma. Rose still wore the pink dress and her hair was similar to Amy Rose. Vogma had no hair, but was wearing red armor decorated with gold. He had a sword strapped to his side, and his skin was ashy gray.

"You can help? Brujaa asked.

"Oh yes. You see, Enverse programmed his experiments to be evil, but some of the programming wasn't thorough enough. And, just watch," Rose replied.

She held up her hand, and pink energy spewed forth, entering into Database. Vogma followed her lead, shooting red energy into Omni.

After a few moments, they stopped, and the Experiments held their heads. That's when Goliath and Mach Ten snapped out of their confusion. Mach Five charged at high speeds, straight for Vogma. Goliath leapt into the air, then shot down towards Rose through use of pumping his fist down towards his target.

Mach Ten was promptly incinerated upon contact with the Sage of Fire, as he had ignited just before contact. Rose conjured a tornado before herself, and Goliath was sent flying through the wall. The outside life suddenly turned on him faster than it ever did on Dee, actually killing Goliath. The vines wrapped around him, choking him as it tried to crush his windpipe. Goliath wished that last one had happened. It would have been faster.

Rose and Vogma dusted off their hands.

"We can't take on _all _the experiments that quickly, but we will definitely help knock down the numbers," Vogma said.

Brujaa and Donlan did a behind-the-back-high-five.

"What can I do?" Cloud asked.

"You'd be best to take care of Black Hole. He can warp through up to twenty black holes he can create, and he can shoot blasts from them," Donlan said.

Cloud nodded, then ran to the hangar, where Fenrir soon revved to life and took off. A scanner attachment on his bike soon gave him the approximate location of his quarry.

"We should send some people who are used to taking on large numbers of monsters," Donlan said, "those Soccer Mummies can multiply."

"Well, if she's not still giving out puff-puffs, I'm certain Jessica can be useful in that department, along with her traveling buddies," Brujaa said.

"Puff-puffs?" Shadow asked.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Brujaa replied, patting Shadow on the head.

"The rest, I'm sure we can take care of," Donlan said.

"Let's go!" Brujaa and Donlan shouted, flying out of the lab, into the skies.

"Morons," Shadow muttered.


	12. Experiments: Finish Them!

_**Finish Them!**_

_**I have been updating this story like nobody's freaking business. I even have a map of Popstar on Deviantart. My penname is Tricrax. It's in my scraps.**_

_**If anyone is interested, I wrote another story called Adventures: Fanservice. It's part of this mainly because it's M-Rated, and this is T. Remember when Samus fought the Houndoom and a reporter snapped a shot of her? That plot point somehow formed into a whole one-shot. There may be a sequel in the form of another chapter. I'm not sure yet.**_

_**Here's a few notes for those of you who may become confused. **_

_**Dragon Star was Drahamak until the Star Millennium. During that time, there was a revolution of the Sages, during which the Planets were all renamed to include the name Star.**_

_**The original Shadow Sage went mad, causing the revolution of the Sages. When he was dealt with, his evil influence was permanently ingrained into the universe. After that, they seperated the aspects of the Shadow element into Shadow and Darkness. The Star Element opposed Shadow while Light opposed Darkness, allowing for a perfect balance of the elements.**_

_**Things Not Original in This Chapter**_

_**Jessica - Character - Dragon Quest VIII**_

_**Yangus - Character - Dragon Quest VIII**_

_**Angelo - Character - Dragon Quest VIII**_

_**Hero - Character - Dragon Quest VIII**_

_**Red - Character - Dragon Quest VIII**_

_**Master Chief - Character - Halo**_

_**Teen Titans - Characters/Team - DC**_

_**Brother Blood - Character - DC**_

Popstar, Alexandria

Jessica had her whip in one hand, a staff in the other. Beside her was Yangus, who carried an axe.

"Weren't Angelo s'posed to come 'elp us fight those bloody monsters the 'edge'og told us 'bout?" Yangus asked.

"As I recall, he is. Hero couldn't make it, though. He was informed of a Dragon coming towards the Trodain Kingdom, and he is the Captain of the Guard," Jessica said.

"I'm certain Hero will hold up against the Dragon. When I first went to Trodain, he told me to come help you two," Angelo said, walking down the path.

"And 'e decided to bring me along. It didn't take much persuadin'. Pretty boy 'ere told me you lot had some trouble and treasure. Course, with Yangus in trouble, I rushed right on over. Treasure just got me to come quicker," Red said.

"Wot you got to fight wit, Red? Surely you ain't usin' that bloomin' dagger!" Yangus exclaimed.

"If you'd gimme back me bloody Flail o' Fury, we won't have a problem with weapons, now would we?" Red said, snippily.

Yangus scratched his head for a moment, nodding in agreement, before pulling out said weapon and handing it to Red.

"What's the trouble? I wasn't given much of a report," Angelo inquired.

"According to Shadow, there will be a horde of monsters that can clone themselves coming. The abilities seem to be lashing out and tying up the enemies. Donlan mentioned they have poisonous wrappings. They're called Soccer Mummies. There's also supposed to be a large bird called Zephyr who can cause massive gusts of wind with its wings," Jessica answered.

On cue, the monsters began to approach.

Jessica pointed the staff, and an explosion knocked down the numbers significantly. She then dropped the staff and ran forward, whip in hand. The Ancient Magic form of the Boom series was useful, but it drained her way too fast.

Yangus twirled his axe, sending a current of air that could slice through metal. The numbers dropped even more. Angelo focused energy into his sword, whispering words to channel the spirits to do his bidding. The Ex-Templar plunged his sword into the ground, and glowing runes appeared. Lightning came from the heavens, knocking the numbers down to three.

After that display of power, the crew had to rest a few seconds, which was all the Soccer Mummies needed. The amount of strange bandaging that flew from them was uncountable as it wrapped the three heroes tightly. The poison was already creeping in, and the monsters were already duplicating rapidly. To make matters worse, Zephyr was approaching.

The three heroes were too busy gasping for air to wonder where Red had gone.

Hunter Base

Master Chief was rarely at the Hunter Base. Usually, he was busy fighting in some form or fashion against anything he could find. It had been a slow week, so he decided to swing by for a bit. He heard an odd sound, and he instinctively went into battle mode. His scanners told him that it was a chameleon type creature, and was artificial. It also had programming that was irreparably evil. Currently, it was right above him.

His gun found the mark _really_ quick.

Titans' Tower

A number of heroes had set up their own bases far away from the Hunter Base, and reported to it every now and then. The Hunter Base was located dead in the center of Popstar. The right point was considered the DC area, though no one knew where the name came from. Here is where Siyon had come. Most of the heroes were busy with a number of things.

The Teen Titans was group that was stretched very thin. Beastboy had been recruited to help the Doom Patrol. Nightwing was taking care of some business in Bludhaven, Starfire at his side. Cyborg and Raven were the only ones home, and the first was busy trying track the latest doings of Brother Blood.

Raven sat on the top of the Tower, meditating, busy trying to detect anything that might attack. She found her opposition quickly.

The strange alien creature, Siyon, flew towards the half-demon, its laser shooting. Raven opened her eyes and projected a shield, which took the impact and dissipated upon command.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Small, metal marbles emerged from cloak and shot towards Siyon at an incredible speed. It cracked the cockpit and smashed into the laser. Siyon squealed in fright and anger, the only noise it could really make.

Blue energy surrounded it, then shot out as a spear. The mental jettison crashed into Raven, giving her the migraine of her life. She couldn't do anything for a moment but drop to her knees and hold her head in intense pain. She got her concentration back to push it away in time for Siyon to smash into her head with its ship. Blood flew from Raven's nose and her right eye was already purpling as she flew back.

She was surrounded by black energy in her anger as she floated up.

"**So you want a battle of wits**?" she asked, calling up her demonic side in anger, "**You'll find that I have an advantage**."

Raven sent out her own spear of mental energy towards Siyon, who retaliated with its mental spear. The energies twirled around each other, trying to dominate for a few moments, before the blue energy was quashed.

Siyon was sent flying into the roof, and Raven calmed herself. Cyborg walked out on the roof.

"What's with all the commotion, Rae?" he asked.

"Something attacked me. I got rid of it," Raven replied, curtly, before melting into her shadow, teleporting to her room.

Cyborg took a picture of the remains of Siyon, then set to work cleaning it.

Clearing in Forests of Illusions

Cloud had ditched Fenrir just outside the eerie forest and set it to auto-defense, causing it to drive off if anyone other than Cloud tried to ride it. Currently, the ex-SOLIDER had just entered the clearing, where his scanner had lead him. He muttered, before putting up the scanner and looking around for the Experiment.

He felt a searing pain in his leg, causing him to fall, clutching it. It burned intensely, and yet seemed to be frozen. He felt it cautiously, trying not to irritate the wound and quickly found a single needle. He pulled it out, and the pain went away.

Of course, the pain was replaced by a different kind when a blast slammed into his chest. He stumbled for a moment, before seeing Black Hole, tuxedo, mask, hat, and all disappearing into the shadows.

He called upon his Sense Materia and attuned his hearing. He tilted his head slightly, hearing a slight whistle. The needle cut nothing but air as it sped passed him.

"I see I will have to kick it into overdrive, I suppose?" Black Hole asked, before disappearing.

A flurry of needles shot towards Cloud from all directions: up, down, left, right, forward, back. He leapt up, twirling his sword, deflecting all the needles up higher. The ones below succeeded in jutting through his pants and into his legs. Cloud gritted in pain as he fell back to the earth, the heat and cold somehow working in some horrible combination of brutality, almost making him wish he was dead.

Black Hole appeared above Cloud and landed an axe kick on his chest, before jumping back and disappearing. A single blast shot from the hole before evaporating. Cloud, in his painful fit, luckily succeeded in avoiding it. He had prepared for the pain, so he was able to get over it about as fast as the first time, despite the increase in dosage. The removal process took longer, and he continued to dodge various triple shots of needles.

From what he guessed, the other experiment, Quill Bomb, was unable to grow his quills quickly enough to do another massive shot like before. Black Hole was forming a warp hole around the experiment, and then he manipulated them to shoot through certain ones in that unavoidable attack.

Cloud stood up, and focused on a different Materia. Fire engulfed his Buster Sword, which pointed at a warp hole. Black Hole briefly appeared, then disappeared. Cloud whirled around, rapidly shooting Firaga. He heard Black Hole shout in pain, then he saw him fall from a warp hole behind him, Quill Bomb in hand. The mercenary focused on a different Materia, and a wall of energy formed between him and the thrown experiment.

The needles exploded in every direction, but they bounced harmlessly off the Protect shield. Black Hole wasn't so lucky. About thirty needles lodged themselves in his body. All that pain overloaded his nerves, dulling them, but ripping through his mind in any case. He was sent into a twitching fit.

Cloud tossed a grenade towards them, then ran off at high speeds. Fenrir situated itself so that he immediately leapt onto it as soon as he was out of the woods.

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.**_

The earth rocked with the force of the grenade, which was fortunately just a concussive. However, it had been strong enough and expertly thrown. Black Hole and Quill Bomb had been situated just beneath it. They were crushed by the force of it as it pushed them down into the hard dirt.

Cloud pulled out his cell phone and dialed Shadow's number, still driving.

_"Shadow."_

"Quill Bomb and Black Hole have been taken care of."

_"That was fast."_

"They were just created today and I'm an expert at fighting. No contest."

_"Point. I've gotten other reports of experiments being taken care of. Don't worry about getting any more."_

"Alright."

Cloud flipped the phone closed, pocketed it, put on his goggles, and got his full attention on the road before him. A drop by the 7th Heaven sounded like a good idea.

Cutting Edge

FPS had situated himself on a high cliff, called Cutting Edge for some inexplicable reason, overlooking a large town, where he was currently busy trying to snipe the mayor. There had been a parade, as the mayor was one of the rare kind of politician who was honorable and a good mayor. He had to die.

Of course, personal dilemmas were higher prioritized than general mischief when it came to the experiments. This was proven when Hexabyte appeared. FPS immediately whirled around a shot several blasts at the virus-like experiment, who flew above the blasts, then shot down towards him.

Somehow, FPS and Hexabyte had been programmed with an intense hatred for one another. It may have been a slip-up, or Enverse may have just decided to do something whimsical. Either way, it wasn't a good move.

FPS shot a spray shot that Hexabyte caught in the chest, sending him reeling. FPS then pushed a button on his gun arm, and activated it again. A grenade was propelled towards Hexabyte at an extreme rate. The virus was sent flying into the rocks.

FPS went to inspect his kill. His silver eye looked him over, and he raised his gun again. Hexabyte snapped out a claw that dug into the gun. Hexabyte felt a variety of energies pulsing through his being, all of them painful. Hexabyte grinned maliciously as his face changed into that of FPS's briefly, then reverted back to normal.

Hexabyte flew up, shoving FPS back, causing him to stumble and fall. He held up his right arm, which formed the gun. A button press and an activation later, FPS was on the harmful end of a concussive blast that knocked him off the cliff, screaming in anger the whole way down.

Hexabyte, to be thorough, tossed a grenade after him and floated off, satisfied.

Alexandria

Zephyr beat its mighty wings back and forth, blowing the three adventurers into the walls of the city. The Soccer Mummies slammed into them, further adding to the pain. One or two of them merely slammed into the, recently, stone-reinforced walls, which caused them to burst into wisps of smoke and bandages. Small blessings that caused large bruises for the heroes who defeated the mighty Lord Rhapthorne.

That's when Red burst from behind the bushes, Flail of Fury in hand. The weapon bashed Zephyr's skull in, causing the strange, reptilian bird to cry out and fly around haphazardly. Red swung again, and the chained weapon smashed the experiment's right wing, causing the limb to crumple in pain. It fell to the ground, and Red quickly shanked it with her usual knife to end it.

Of course, there was still the matter of the Soccer Mummies, which had continued to multiply. She could see that Jessica and the others were getting steadily closer to death.

Red growled obscenities, somewhat quietly, as she rushed towards the group, her flail swing beside her. The weapon snapped out, and several of the monsters burst. Angelo fell free and quickly cast Squelch on himself and the others, curing the poison. The next move was a round of Full heals.

Of course, the Squelch was wasted on all but him as the Soccer Mummies continued to inject their deadly toxin into the veins of the heroes. So, Angelo and Red started to slice and smash through the group of monsters, who continued to multiply.

Despite that annoyance, they succeeded in getting their team free, and they quickly reduced the numbers once more. However, with Red still backing them up, the hesitations were fewer.

They all took in a deep breath as they surveyed the landscape. One Soccer Mummy left.

"I got this 'un, mates," Yangus said.

"Quickly, now," Angelo suggested.

"TYPHOEUS' MAUL!"

The axe came crashing down on the last Soccer Mummy with a devastating effect. It burst, ending the fight. Yangus' axe came to rest on the former bandit's shoulder.

"Pretty good, eh?" he asked.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

Druid Divide

Several centuries ago, there had been an enormous amount of Druids, mostly congregated in a canyon, prompting the name. Eventually, most scattered or died out. There was only one inhabitant within the canyon at this point. However, what he saw, he would never forget.

A loud scream tore through the air, but Brujaa avoided the sonic blast with a quick aerial maneuver. Banshee cursed silently, then slipped behind a rock. She nodded to Reaper, who nodded back.

A chain emerged from Reaper's hands, and he formed a portal through Darkness, which it snaked into. Brujaa landed, and the chain slithered out of his shadow. A knife emerged from the chain, and it dug into Brujaa's side. Brujaa screamed in the sudden pain, while trying to remove the knife. He grabbed the chain, focused, and using Ecto-energy, increased his strength enough to break the chain from the knife. Ecto-electricity surged through the chain, causing Reaper to go through a brief spastic fit.

Brujaa pulled the chain with his, currently increased, strength, successfully ripping Reaper through the warp hole and out of his shadow. Brujaa then punched him once in the face, still enhanced. After that, the strength fluctuated for a moment as he continued to waylay Reaper, and it returned to normal. Reaper caused a bolo on a chain to emerge from his chest and smash Brujaa's. The half-ghost bent over in pain, letting Reaper get free.

Brujaa held up a hand to attack, but Banshee chose that moment to exercise her vocal chords. She manipulated them in a way to force Brujaa to his knees, holding his ears in pain as they began to bleed from the intensity of the sound.

Reaper twirled the bolo, before letting it fly. It wrapped around Brujaa, before smacking him in the chest again, increasing the damage to the area. Banshee stopped to suck in the breath to replenish her abnormally large lungs. Reaper yanked Brujaa in a table-turned fashion. However, Brujaa didn't stab Reaper. Reaper _did_ stab Brujaa, though.

Of course, Fate didn't like Reaper as it did Brujaa. Probably because Reaper was an abomination against Nature and Brujaa fixed the time stream. In any case, it decided to do something nice. Sort of.

Hexabyte sped through the Druid Divide and grabbed Reaper, choosing to ignore Brujaa. Reaper felt the strange, painful sensation, before he was tossed to the side. Banshee was unable to avoid the similar treatment. Brujaa was faintly aware that he was no longer being stabbed, as his eyes had been screwed up in pain. After a moment, Hexabyte was gone, and Brujaa's anger had begun to boil.

Reaper stood up, dizzy and disoriented.

Brujaa's eyes snapped open.

Boiling point.

A field of blue energy emerged from Brujaa, surrounding Banshee and Reaper, along with a bit of the rocky walls. The shock wave washed through the field, obliterating the rock and earth. Banshee and Reaper screeched as they became naught but energy, crumbled by the shockwave. Brujaa picked up what was normally the ghost-catching device and activated it. The energy started to drain towards him.

The Druid had stumbled when the rocky wall had shifted violently, and his cup had been flung into the air. He was just glad that he hadn't been flung in the air.

The metal cup smacked Brujaa on the back of the head, causing him to lurch forward and drop the Ghost Catcher. However, the energies were erratic still. They swirled and whipped about. One of the wisps touched Brujaa as he started to stand up, causing a chain reaction. The energy began to force feed itself into him. He was rendered silent until the event stopped, leaving him completely drained.

Brujaa blacked out. He laid there for a few moments, before another figure appeared. It was Pulse, the strange seal. It whirled about, looking confused. It knew there had been a few Experiments that would have been perfect if together.

A black spike of energy emerged rapidly from its shadow, piercing it. Its vocal chords had been slit, which meant that it was unable to scream. The look on its face revealed that it definitely wanted to. The black spike was removed, and it fell, bleeding.

Then the figure responsible appeared. The great, black wings allowed her shadow to envelope Brujaa completely. Nightlark hummed to herself, almost absently, as she looked up and down Brujaa's figure.

"You're cute, I'll give you that. And you seem to have some qualities like me. I'll see you later," Nightlark commented.

Brujaa sunk into his shadow, to reappear in Shadow's lab. At the time, Shadow didn't question it. Later, he figured out what happened, just not why.

Star Desert

Archangel was amongst the strongest of the Experiments when surrounded by light. The Star Desert was pouring the necessary light. She was practically a god. Nitemare had come with her, sensing the strength within the Experiment. The civilians they had encountered so far were currently experiencing their worst fears come to life, unless Archangel disposed of them.

A burst of wind blew Archangel and Nitemare to the ground. Rose floated down, followed by Vogma. Energy flowed from them, pouring into the Experiments, still pinned down by the wind.

Gradually, any semblance of evil programming was purged from their minds.

"Thank you," Archangel said.

Nitemare made various hissing noises. Archangel said he shared her gratitude. The Sages nodded.

"You may want to head to the Hunter Base. Your abilities would be put to good use there," Rose suggested.

"We will."

Rose and Vogma turned to each other, mentally scanning for the final abominations. They nodded, having found it, then warped.

Star Point

Alright, I admit it, I lied. The Hunter Base isn't located dead in the center of Popstar. It's several miles to the north of the center of Popstar. The center of Popstar on a map will show a blue square with a star in it. This place is referred to by a great many names. Star Sage's Temple. Ben's Refuge. Orion's Center. The correct term is Star Point, though it is, in effect, the Star Sage's Temple. The irony is that his is the smallest Temple, whereas he's the most important Sage.

This is where the final Experiments had come. Mirror and Stratagem. The Donlan-Clone had carried them here, as it had enough divine energy necessary to combat anything that came near them, in theory.

Rose and her pet, Amy, the strange Chimera, with Vogma and his odd buffalo, Daren. Stratagem sent a command, and Mirror created clones of the Sages. Abominations created abominations made in the image of the holiest beings on hallowed grounds. That demands attention.

Several other beings shot down.

Anne, the Sage of Ice and Water, wore cowgirl garb, pistols and all.

Joseph, the Sage of Thunder and Lightning, wore a karate gi and had a bo-staff.

Jericho, the Dragon Sage, was just as his name described. He had a humanoid frame.

Ben, the Star Sage, wore a robe and had a large gauntlet on his right hand with a Star Rod in the other.

Grant, the Sage of Earth, had huge, grey armor. His face was not visible, nor was any other part of his body.

Maria, the Sage of Light, had a flowing, white gown. Her silver hair glowed brightly.

Rufio, the Sage of Darkness, had a rippling, black cloak. He twirled both of his swords, obviously itching for a fight.

Mirror started to conjure the Sages' döppelgangers, but to no avail. Ben seized the creation that dared to defy the gods with his divine energies. Maria and Rufio ran through the energy, blasting and slicing the abominations.

Anne and Joseph smiled at each other, before turning their attention on the Vogma-Clone. It found itself covered in ice, which was then pumped full of electricity. The creation dispersed.

Jericho took in a deep lungful of air, then projected a fireball of immense magnitude that knocked the Rose-Clone to the ground. Earth surrounded it, and Grant landed on the creation, destroying it.

The Donlan-Clone looked around, panicked, until Ben threw a star-shaped energy disc through it.

"Was there a reason all of you had to come?" Rose asked.

"We enjoy overkill," Mal said.

"It's a good thing when the good guys get to pawn the baddies," Ben said.

"Plus, we were bored," Anne added.

"Let's get home before the heroes starting asking us to fix _all _of their problems," Rufio said.

They all nodded, forming into a pillar of light and dispersing.

Hunter Base

"We'll have to at least hide it far out of sight. I won't risk an event like this happening again," Shadow said.

"Let's just destroy it. It is a good thing to have, but it can be used so improperly it's not even worth having. I mean, yeah, I did want to create a butler to do everything for me, but let's just get rid of it," Donlan answered.

Shadow nodded, then raised his hand.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Yellow energy swirled around the machine, then shot into it as spears, obliterating it. Donlan heaved a sigh of sadness.

"Is Brujaa awake yet?" Donlan asked.

"Eh, let him sleep a while longer. My energy readings report that he's had some weird fluctuations. It should stop in a few hours, but until then, he'll need rest. In the meantime, you got a call a little while back from Dragon Star," Shadow asked.

"Alright then. Thanks," Donlan replied, heading for the call reception computer.


	13. Draak Rei: Sea and Earth

_**Sea and earth**_

_**Oh, look, I'm finally addressing something I've been hinting at since the beginning. It's never been outright stated which of the heroes was which, although you probably could have figured it out if you thought about it for all of two seconds.**_

_**I don't really regret to inform you that I'm now stopping the TNOITC. Most of it would contain spoilers, and you can tell what's original and what's not, can't you? If it's questionable, wiki it. If it's really obscure, I'll probably mention it in the next chapter's author note.**_

Hunter Base, Shadow's Lab

Donlan activated the communications' channel, opening it up to the Dragon Star frequencies. After a moment, the screen flickered to life, and Donlan found himself face-to-face, sort of, with Bahamut, the old Draak Rei of Dragon Star. Donlan had attained enough interest in the dealings of Dragons to know that Bahamut had become a Trapped Soul, and the son of Bahamut had disappeared. A council of Dragons had been ruling Dragon Star for the passed two centuries, according to the records.

A tear seemed to form in Bahamut's eye. Donlan was very confused.

"Um... Bahamut, sir, what is it you need, your highness?" Donlan asked.

Donlan was a very goofy person under normal circumstances. When faced with a royal Dragon, one of the only races he saw magnificence in, he was rendered sober, for lack of a better word.

Bahamut laughed a moment or two, then looked back at Donlan.

"That's something. Most sons need to be taught to call their fathers 'sir'. Ole Orion was right in sending you where he did," Bahamut chuckled.

Of course, for Bahamut, chuckling was booming.

"Beg pardon?" Donlan asked.

"Well, come to Dragon Star. I'll need to talk to you," Bahamut said.

"Ummm... yes sir?" Donlan replied, confused to point of posing questioned statements.

"Donlan, I only want you to come. This is personal. I know you'd like to, but please don't bring company," Bahamut stated.

Donlan nodded, and the communications went black. He looked down at his suit. It was black with a single green stipe running down the front and a belt. Well, this was royalty he was seeing, wasn't it? He'd change as he left.

"Hey, Shadow, I'm going to need a ship with auto-pilot, warp drive, and an extensively coordinated map that can match up with a map that can tell me where all the planets are," Donlan said.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. There's three left in the hangar. The red one has parking abilities," Shadow replied, distracted by something he was reading.

Donlan swore he heard something about Professor Gerald as the door shut behind him.

Space

Donlan was currently sporting a red jacket and blue jeans over his suit. He didn't have much in the way of clothing, so it was the truth to say that it was the best he had. Brujaa wasn't much better. The best non-fighting, non-workout suit he had was a t-shirt and jeans. If asked, they responded mainly with their apathy towards wardrobe.

After a brief period of hyperspace, during which Donlan ate constantly, the Pokémorph gazed out at the mighty Dragon world. Unlike Popstar, it was actually a sphere. Unlike Popstar, it seemed to actually have a genuine primal nature. Unlike Popstar, it actually had energy visibly pulsating in some strange crystalline formation.

Unlike Popstar, it made Donlan feel at home.

Dragon Star

Donlan landed at the port, where he was inspected for a moment, being regarded with disgust by the Dragon in charge of the inspection duty the entire time. When Donlan was almost out the door, he turned around. The Dragon looked up at him, questioningly and irritated.

"Your mother's a Communist!"

He then ran like the gates of Hell had opened and all its ire was being fired towards him. As far as he was concerned, it was.

A-A

Donlan's entire body felt like it was throbbing when he got to the palace. He sat down for a few seconds, getting his breath back. It only took a few seconds because the sight of the palace filled him with such unnatural excitement and energy, he couldn't be still even if he had wanted to.

Then again, there were stairs. Like, a lot of them. Donlan looked at the stars, then turned into a Dragonite. It felt right, considering the setting. He flew above the steps, arriving at the entrance. Donlan couldn't help himself.

"Screw you, stairs!" he called out behind him as he walked through the walls, taking his human form again.

Draco Castle

When he opened the doors, he was greeted by the sight of a, currently coiled-up, Chinese Lung. The snake-like Dragon of lore lifted its head up, allowing the light to glint off its blue scales in a more attractive manner. His whiskers twitched as he spoke.

"I am Korhy. Are you Donlan?" it intoned, its voice snake-like and fluid.

"Yeah. Why?" Donlan asked.

The room began to fill up with water rapidly. A small section of land formed as a platform for Donlan, raising him above the waters. The Chinese Lung disappeared beneath waves.

"This is really freaky," Donlan said, looking around.

A burst of water came from behind him, and he was sent sprawling into the water. His instinct told him Dragonite, but his common sense told him Magikarp. Neither was a good choice, but he went with Common Sense. He heaved a sigh as he could breath again. Then he saw the Chinese Lung, maw gaping, speeding towards him at an incredible rate.

He transformed into a Dewgong, some strange, elegant, white, horned seal creature. A beam of multi-colored energy burst from his horn, causing the water Dragon to zip to the side in surprise. Donlan sped towards Korhy, horn first. Korhy dodged the first attack, but he caught the second in his right shoulder, eliciting a burst of bubbles and a muffled roar of anger.

Donlan's eyes widened dangerously as he realized he had done nothing with that hard hit. Dragon scales were impenetrable. Duh!

He turned tail and hit the water as hard as he could, turning into a white streak. The blue streak behind him knew it wouldn't be able to catch up. Oh well. Korhy knew he didn't have to. Donlan soon realized why. With his head. Going 30-40 miles headlong into a wall does a lot for the sinuses.

The Pokémorph was blinking away stars and asking about a license plate number when he saw Korhy coming again. Donlan did something that could only be described as stupid. He charged at his opponent.

It's quiz time, kiddies. A seal thing versus a serpentine Dragon... who will win? Let's watch and see.

Korhy snapped his jaws eagerly, continuing his charge. He lurched back and snapped forward. He caught nothing but bubbles. He looked behind him and saw the white flipper speeding towards the opposite end. What was there?

Korhy growled as he recalled what it was, turning around rapidly and speeding after his prey.

Donlan leaped out of the water and onto the platform, focusing on what he need to transform into. Quickly, he changed into an Electebuzz, the Pokémon with such electrical focusing power, it practically shocked people by looking at them.

He saw the shadow getting closer, and he knew he had to attack fast. Electricity tore into the water, and all was lost to his vision. After a few moments, he let up the intense assault to peer into the water. He gulped when he heard the voice behind him.

"You missed."

Korhy's tail snapped out, knocking Donlan into the water again. Ice breath covered the ground, then his tail smashed it. Satisfied, Korhy flew back into his natural element.

Donlan had become to Dewgong again, trying to desperately to think of the best strategy for taking on a serpentine, aquatic...

_Why am I so stupid?_

He had even become a Magikarp at the beginning of the fight. Of _course_ he should have thought of that.

With that thought in mind, he bulged out and forward, taking on a similar appearance to Korhy, only more primal. More monstrous. More atrocious.

More Gyardoas.

Korhy snorted, sending jets of bubbles from his nostrils, as he snaked through the water towards his adapted opponent. They entered a swirling dance through the water.

"Very good... but you're lacking arms."

Donlan's eyes widened as Korhy snapped out his own mentioned limbs, tearing through the scales and into flesh. Then a feral grin appeared on Donlan's face. Korhy quirked an eyebrow, before realizing _his_ mistake. Getting attached to an opponent whose mouth is bigger than your head is a big one. It only has to happen once.

Korhy found darkness closing around him, but then he saw a light coming towards him. Of the two, he feared the light more, and rightly so.

The Hyper Beam tore through him, killing him instantly. The water drained as soon as the heart beat ceased, leaving Donlan gasping for air on the floor in human form.

A-A

Donlan had regained his breath after a few moments, but instead of turning around, he pressed forward. The room was enormous. In the center was a brutishly large Dragon. He was the more commonly thought of Dragon: four legs, two wings, one tail, long neck, etc. His red scales were dull, almost iron-like.

"I am Kheris. Are you Donlan?" he boomed, a rugged and deep voice.

"No. I'm Danxoln," Donlan replied.

Oh the irony.

"Good. I was instructed to kill Danxoln, while letting Donlan pass unharmed," Kheris replied.

"I was just kiddin' man, I'm Donlan!"

"So was I. Your voice told me who you were."

"Damn it."

The room made no visible changes other than the sudden flash of energy on the walls.

"Force fields means you can't leave and neither can I until there's only one heartbeat in the room," Kheris explained.

"Again I say: damn it."

"It is unbefitting to hear someone of your status saying such foul things."

"Screw you, Bulky McBigmac."

"Someone's _asking_ for an ass-kicking."

"Bring it, brontosaurus."

Kheris stomped towards Donlan, making the earth rumble as he did so. Donlan leapt into the air, transforming into Rayquaza as he did so. Then he changed again. He became humanoid again, his wings shrinking, in some mixture of Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. The combo had to work multiple times, right?

Donlan sped above Kheris, before turning around and flying back. He delivered a punch with Hitmonchan's speed and Rayquaza's strength. What does that add up to? Much pain.

Normally.

Kheris whirled around, delivering a cracking blow to Donlan that sent him into the wall. Maybe that wasn't such a winner after all. He transformed back, then became a Donphan, which was some midget elephant that gray with a black piece of armoring on its back. Donlan knew what the armor was for, as he curled up into a ball and shot off at high speeds. The Physics Police would surely want a word with him over that matter.

Kheris felt the strange wheel move up his tail and onto his back. He also felt the strange sensation of the thing change. Donlan became Scizor, and as that strange, red, metallic creature, began to dig under Kheris' scales. The Dragon began to buck for a moment, before taking flight. Donlan held tight by digging deeper, increasing the turbulence. The cycle ended when Donlan came loose.

A number of scales came with him.

The Pokémorph focused once more, and he formed two other Scizor arms. All four of his arms and his normal amount of legs attained a beefiness only heard of when referring to Machamp. His torso became a white body of fur and feathers with a purple crest. Wings of varying elements emerged from his back.

He flew high above Kheris, who had fallen back to the ground, his wings' nerves screaming their displeasure at the strenuous exercise. He dove, and he dug into the unscaled area.

The elements pierced through his body, doing a bunch of necessary and unnecessary damage to his innards. Donlan quickly flew higher as Kheris began to enter fits of pain. He used his arms to open Kheris' jaws as wide as possible, then spewed all three elements associated with the Legendaries into his gullet. Kheris breathed a few moments, then passed.

Donlan reverted to normal, actually heaving what he had eaten during the Warp Drive. The doors unlocked, and Donlan fell on his face.

A-A

An hour or so later, Donlan woke up to see Kheris a few feet away, still lying there. He felt sick again, but he knew he had to press on. Something inside him told him he had to.

A-A

In the third room, he saw Bahamut in the throne room.

"What the hell, sir? You tell me I need to come here, then you have your lackeys try to kill me. Seriously. What the hell?" Donlan asked.

"I'm... sorry... Donlan. I no longer have control over what I do," Bahamut said.

"What? Then who does?" Donlan wondered aloud.

Bahamut dispersed into the orb, held by a Dragovian servant, who looked at Donlan.

"I do," he growled.


	14. Draak Rei: Wind and Fire

_**Fire and Wind**_

_**Surprisingly, the element themed titles worked out well. I didn't think much about it til now.**_

_**Just to note, for those of you who checked out the Map of Popstar in my Deviant Art scraps, I forgot to mention something when I first posted it. Ocil came up with Mirror Lake. I came up with Druid Chasm. Forest of Illusion comes from Super Mario World,**_

Draco Castle

"And who are you?" Donlan asked, getting into a battle position.

_'Damn it, I'm already seriously tired from those two fights... I haven't trained fighting a Dragovian... This can't end well. I shoulda brought Brujaa.'_

The Dragovian seemed to contemplate the question for a moment.

"I am Duak. Do you recognize the name?" he asked.

"Duak...? You were Bahamut's advisor... and his greatest friend? Weren't you a Dragon?" Donlan wondered aloud for the second time that day.

"You got me. I am indeed a Dragon," Duak said.

His form shifted and began to glow, and then it liquefied. Donlan gagged. Then the substance began to lift up and take shape, expanding as it did so. It grew into a bronze Dragon, though its size was not that grand.

"After Bahamut became a Trapped Soul, the Dragons demanded a king, since his son had been spirited away, by Bahamut's consent. So, I lied to them about Bahamut's disappearance. I told them he had gone on a spiritual journey, as he felt he had failed on multiple occasions. Afterwards, I spent hard work learning the Forbidden Arts, and I attained Bahamut. Once I explained my cause, he agreed to help. Ever since, I have been comfortably ruling the Dragon World," Duak said.

"So, wait, what does that have to do with me?" Donlan asked.

"Stupid boy... It has _everything_ to do with you!" Duak shouted.

With the shout, Duak charged at Donlan, wings extended and ready to fly. The room flashed with light, and became completely black with blue lights throughout.

"What is this place?" Donlan asked, transforming.

He became a Dragonite and flew above the charging Duak.

"A pocket dimension!"

Duak had been tampering with some serious magic, it seemed to Donlan. He saw Duak again, then pumped his wings hard enough to send out massive winds that slammed into Duak, knocking him off balance. Donlan shot out a fireball, which slammed Duak again. The Soul-Voking Dragon reared up his head in disgust.

"Fool! You would fight a Dragon with false fire?"

Duak took off towards him, shooting one fireball after another. Donlan tried harder and harder to dodge, but as his feats of agility and speed grew in number, his stamina dropped. After a few moments, the fireball slammed into him. Donlan screeched in pain as he was knocked back. Duak flew by him, grabbing him around his torso, then tossed him through the air.

Donlan tried to right himself, but Duak was too quick. He belted him several times, then shoved his claw into Donlan's gut. Donlan gasped, then transformed into his normal form. The hole continued to bleed profusely.

"I observed you, boy. I know your morphing ability allowed you to heal fatal injuries when you transform, so long as you don't return to that form for a while. So, I countered. Styx poison worked well enough," Duak said, answering his questioning face.

"Why...?" Donlan gasped, coughing up blood.

"Well, of course, I tracked the child of Bahamut. I had interest in him. I was not allied to Draak Rei, however I managed to fake such. Duak is a disguise," Duak said.

Donlan stared.

"I am Tiamat, Draconic Fiend of Wind!" Duak shouted.

Instantly, he transformed again. He became a behemoth of a Dragon, all green and silver, with floating rings around his limbs.

"The egg continued through the universe, far out of my reach. It crashed with another egg on Popstar. It was released a human, or that's what it seemed. The Star Sage had manipulated the son to ensure he wouldn't stick out. Of course, he messed up. At the time, Pokémorphs were common. They quickly died out after the half ghosts arrived."

Donlan's eyes widened.

"You! Donlan, member of the Hunter Base, are the son of the last Draak Rei! You are the Prince of Dragons!"

It couldn't be true. It was ridiculous. It was stupid.

It made so much sense.

Donlan found himself consumed by light.

Higher Realm

Two figures stood in the realm, until Donlan appeared.

"Hello, Donlan," Jericho the Dragon Sage said.

The Star Sage nodded to him.

"You two... knew?" Donlan asked.

They nodded. Donlan sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you needed to lay low for as long as possible. Unfortunately, Tiamat was a spy. You being known as the Prince of Dragons instead of the practitioner of a lost art would be bad," Jericho said.

"Indeed. I would have fixed your powers if I could have. However, seeing that you know you are now... Well, I suppose you deserve your true form," Ben said, twirling his Star Staff.

"I will warn you though. Your Pokémorphing abilities were placed upon you to disguise your true abilities. If we give you your Draconic heritage back... you'll never reattain those abilities," Jericho said.

"Will I be healed?" Donlan asked.

"Either way you pick, yes," Ben said.

"Well... Tiamat... is a disgrace to Draconian kind. I want to fight him as I truly am. I want to put him down as a Dragon," Donlan answered.

Jericho held up his Dragon Staff, and the two crossed. Energy branched out towards Donlan. After a moment, he found himself gone from the realm of the Sages.

Draco Castle

Tiamat watched as his opponent twitched on the ground. He growled in satisfaction, continuing to observe as the poison crept through his system. Then something odd happened. The black ooze known as Styx poison began to pour out of Donlan's body from the wound. Then it sealed up. Donlan stood up. That was the final straw. Tiamat bellowed, sending hurricane force winds towards him.

Donlan stood his ground against the storm.

"Boy! I will end you!" Tiamat roared.

Wings extended from Donlan's back. Red, glittering wings shone in the dark pocket dimension. He bulked up, and his body frame changed. He wasn't a hulking mass of muscle, but he was not a stick figure. Spikes emerged down his back along with three long horns on his head.

"Screw you, Season Two Jake Long. I actually look like a Dragon," Donlan said.

Tiamat roared in rage, charging. Donlan grabbed the horn on his nose, swung up onto his face using it, then opened his maw wide. Tiamat howled his displeasure as a series of fireballs cannoned into his face.

"How you like that fireface? Here's a claw neck to go with it!"

Donlan made good on his word. Tiamat's scales were pierced, along with his neck. He roared, then the rings around his limbs began to glow. Energy spears surrounded Donlan.

"Oh snap."

Donlan was sent hurtling through the space by the energy spears. He furled his wings around his person, forming an effective shield. Tiamat sent more spears of energy towards him. Donlan was fortunate that the spears mostly missed.

Tiamat had become more distracted at the moment. A white and gray figure with blue flames on his head appeared. He held up a large sword, and black energy swarmed around Tiamat.

"Lich! What is this trickery?!" he demanded.

Lich laughed.

"Trickery? Of what sort? Our goal is to remove all obstacles to destroying the universe. You haven't been willing to remove one of the obstacles, so I'm doing it for you," Lich replied.

"What obstacle, you bastard!"

"The Wind Orb. You've held onto it for centuries. It's passed time to give it back, so I'm taking interest with it."

Tiamat crumpled as Lich's Bone Sword cleaved his head from his body. The Wind Orb emerged in a flash of green energy, and Lich warped away.

Donlan was unaware of this, but he didn't really mind that his opponent had died somehow. He preferred it, really.

A few moments after Tiamat's passing, the pocket dimension began to ripple and fade away, leaving Donlan in the middle of the throne room. Before him was an orb glowng with blue and silver energies. He picked it up.

"Thank you, son," Bahamut's voice rang in his head.

Donlan nodded.

"Tell your people of what has occurred."

"My people?"

"You are Draak Rei, now."

"What?"

"You are the ruler of Dragon World, son."

"...No, dad. I'm not ready. And I won't be for a long time. I have friends on Popstar. I don't know how to rule. I'm sure you could teach me, but I don't think I can be helpful here, dad. I'd be better off on Popstar. I will return one day."

There was a laugh in his head.

"You'll be a grand ruler, son."

Donlan nodded, and Bahamut spoke again.

"Now, son... stare deeply into the orb."

Donlan did as he was told. Deeper and deeper his gaze went, until he finally locked eyes with his father. Donlan was entranced. He felt power rippling through his body. He felt a grand high, something that lifted his spirits so high he thought he'd begun to float for a moment. Then he came out of his trance, shaking slightly.

"Son, you have completed the Ritual of Dracosis. It is an ancient tradition. The son takes the power of the father and makes it their own when in dire need. Please, accept it as a gift for the countless birthdays I missed. I apologize."

"What about mom?"

"Your mother... she's dead. Dear Ferryt did not enjoy palace life. She left after you were layed, promising to come back in a week or two. She was reportedly taken down by a group of bandits."

"Oh."

"The fault is with me. I should have sent guards with her. But... enough of the past. If you would, son, put my orb in the pedestal before the throne. There, I will have a sufficient power source to emerge and regain my sentience, no longer having a master. Until you return as king, I will rule Dragon World in your stead."

"Thanks, dad."

Donlan placed the orb in the throne, and, like a ghost for a moment, Bahamut appeared upon his throne, wings extended. It was magnificence in its purest form.

"Thank you son," Bahamut replied.

"Listen, dad... I need to get home," Donlan said.

"I understand."

"I promise to call. I'll probably come visit, too."

Bahamut nodded, smiling. Donlan walked through the open doors. He was thankful that the ship inspection guards had changed shifts when he re-entered the room.

Space

Donlan sat in the ship, headed for Popstar, wondering how to tell Brujaa about his latest adventure. Of course, video games sounded like more fun and less work.

"But what if Brujaa asks how I'm all Dragony when I transform?" Donlan wondered aloud for the third time, "...meh. I'll just tell him a wizard did it."

Hunter Base

Brujaa, Donlan, and Amy Rose were currently staring at rolling credits.

"Can 17.5 million viewers be wrong?" Amy asked.

"In a word: _yes_," Brujaa and Donlan replied.

Amy tsked.

"High School Musical 2 is a great movie!" she shot back.

"The hell it is!"

Again with the unison. Amy was starting to get a little creeped out by it.

"Okay, Brujaa, no more betting with Sonic in a chili dog eating contest," Donlan said.

"Agreed."

Shadow's Lab

Shadow paced around his lab, thinking, before finally sitting down again. The keys clacked and clicked as his fingers raced across them.

PASSWORD?

MARIA.

ACCESS TO GIZOID FILES GRANTED.

Shadow sighed.

"What is this thing, Gerald?" he asked no one.

His gaze shifted over to a puppet-like device. It was yellow in general color scheme, though it did have orangish browns and green eyes. A Gizoid.


	15. Walls of Jericho: Journals

_**Journals...**_

_**The Gizoid Logs are from Sonic Battle, but not everyone's played it, so I included them. The Jericho Logs are original. They depict a bit of Sonic Adventure 2, most of Sonic Heroes, and a bit of Shadow the Hedgehog. Yeah, the game sucked, but I still liked the story.**_

Gizoid Log One (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

I have uncovered a most interesting specimen from the warehouse. I believe it is some sort of robot or puppet made by an ancient people. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but when I was experiment on "Chaos Emeralds", it began to move. This suggests the possibility that even the ancient civilizations could harness the power of the "Chaos Emeralds". When I was researching various papers related to the "Chaos Emeralds" and this robot, I discovered that there was a possibility that this robot was something incredible. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this robot may be the cause of the destruction of the Fourth Great Civilization. I'm not sure I believe it just yet, though.

Emerl Log Two (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

I am no longer able to ignore the possibility that this robot did, in fact, destroy the Fourth Great Civilization. I have discovered a stone table that explains as much. According to the tablet, "When the figure falls from the heavens, and the Stone of the Gods is joined, all that exists will become one again." Though it is difficult to believe, this robot has been watching my movements, and mimicking all that I do. I was amazed by my scans of this being. Surprisingly, reams and reams of data scrolled and caused my most powerful computer to crash.

More intriguing was that the data was all about melee combat and weapons of that age. Eventually, if this being is ever restored to it former state, it will put all that data to use, and recreate all that weaponry and combat abilities that it once had... And that's not all. If my guesses are correct, it will also have the ability to absorb modern weaponry as well. What have I done? I have uncovered a horrible weapon...

Emerl Log Three (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

I now understand why this being was named "Gizoid". In ancient tongue, it means "everything". According to the stone tablet, if the Gizoid establishes a "Link" with someone, the Gizoid will swear loyalty to that person. Perhaps it still lacks "Chaos Emerald" energy, but it has been saying the word "Link" to me in broken tones. It went on to explain "Show me your strength, and I shall obey. I am all things, and all shall belong to me." So, as it suggested, I brought before it my collection of model guns, and fired them all. Then, suddenly it said, "I shall follow your every command, and never leave your side."

And since then, it refuses to listen to anyone but me. While it still is a fearsome weapon of destruction, while it remains under my control, at least it won't be used for evil. However, if someone with evil intentions ever forms a "Link" with the Gizoid... I don't even want to think about what will happen. I must research how one can re-establish a "Link" with the Gizoid...

Emerl Log Four (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

The upper echelon is going crazy. Perhaps, they aim to freeze Project "Shadow". Soon, the ultimate life form, "Shadow" will be completed... The application to my granddaughter is also imminent. I cannot just let them stop my study at this point. Because I am the only one who can save my grand daughter's life.

Emerl Log Five (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

The higher-ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new "Link" is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria...

Emerl Log Six (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

My worst fears have come true. The Gizoid has absorbed enough weaponry and technology that it started to go out of control. The resulting rampage resulted in the destruction of most of the "Ark." I have deciphered the rest of the stone tablet. it says, "When the Gizoid learned all it could, it become a god of wrath, and all was destroyed." The researchers somehow managed to subdue the Gizoid and sealed it away. Luckily, it only had one "Chaos Emerald" installed. If it were to have all 7 Emeralds, it might destroy the whole planet. The Gizoid is too much liability. I tried destroying its core, but nothing I did worked. I understand too little of the technology that built him. My best hopes is to try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI...

Emerl Log Seven (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

I have heard there was an accident at the research facility. Everything... Everything is gone. My own Maria's name was among the list of casualties. My beloved granddaughter... They tell me her parting words were, "Bring hope to humanity." I have decided that the key word to activate the Gizoid's free-willed emotions-based AI program will be these very words. "Bring hope to humanity." My poor, poor Maria...

Emerl Log Eight (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

A heritage of the past I dug out, "Gizoid"... And the ultimate life form I created by my own hands, Shadow... I equipped both weapons with "heart". If all powers are not what is to be obtained for oneself, but what is to be born from hearts that yearn for someone, I believe all conflicts should cease to exist. If there is anyone listening to my prayers... Bring hope to humanity.

Jericho Log One (Professor Gerald Robotnik)

I have done it. I made the preparations for the Black Comet. Shadow shall know the truth... and my foolishness shall be ended and dealt with. But, if Shadow should fail... no. It musn't happen. Shadow, however, has been frozen. I fear I shall be imprisoned soon as well. To make sure he doesn't fail, I have created a program that shall have all the necessary plans for an incredible, similar to Shadow... Maria had suggested, at first, that Project: Shadow be named Jericho.

That shall be the name of the data. Jericho...

Jericho Log Two (Professor Ivo Robotnik)

I have found a strange program in my grandfather's computer. When I pulled up the data on Project: Shadow, I found a hidden program, simply called "Jericho". I ignored it til a later date. When I examined it in my free time, I was amazed at what I found. This being, this Jericho, was remarkably similar to Sonic and Shadow! When I examined the schematics further, I discovered that "Jericho" is even more powerful than either of them, considering the speed and stamina. It also had an AI program which was filled with a vast array of fighting styles. But... since my current plan was working, I had no need for it.

When my plan failed, and the Bio Hazard was incinerated, I concocted a new scheme. It involved this program. This... Metal Sonic.

Jericho Log Three (Professor Ivo Robotnik)

I built the android, Metal Sonic. He has advanced AI, which was another program my grandfather authored. I altered it to help my plans instead of its original purpose, whatever that was. Along with its AI and purpose, I also altered its basic body design. It is now incredibly similar to Sonic, including color. This will allow it to match Sonic in all stats and even surpass them once he copies the necessary data. I have given him the means to copy data.

In a few weeks, the worlds shall be my Empire!

Jericho Log Four (Professor Ivo Robotnik)

Metal Sonic has been acting oddly, lately. It is but a week before all of my fleets shall be released, and my three-day plan goes into action. With Metal Sonic at the head of the fleet, the world shall be conquered, one way or another. Yet... his behavior seems quite strange.

I wonder if he somehow got a glimpse of his original programming...

Jericho Log Five (Professor Ivo Robotnik)

Blast it all! Metal Sonic apparently merged his two programs, and since they clashed, they mostly canceled each other out, leaving his rivalry with Sonic the greatest issue! He locked me up, but continued my work. He informed Sonic and his friends, yet also sent rival teams indirectly. He stole a chao and Froggy, and, using his liquid metal properties to look even more like Sonic. This induced Amy and her band of misfits to follow and stop him. Rouge hadn't known about my secret treasure rooms until she found a note in her temporary room, giving a specific location and the code to the cache containing Omega and Shadow. The only reason he continued my plan was to attract Sonic's attention. Team Chaotix freed me, fortunately, so I could give the plan. Even better, the heroes all had gotten the Chaos Emeralds.

They then defeated the rogue robot, Metal Sonic, who used my fleets to become a behemoth of a machine. This allowed me to continue my work, unhindered after I got away from the detectives.

Jericho Log Six (Shadow)

After we all defeated Metal Sonic, Omega and I took him with us to continue our search for a purpose. We often shared intellectual discussions, having been given free will, Metal Sonic and I. Or, I should say, Jericho, which appears to be his true name. Jericho once told me of his plight: three clashing programs. I couldn't imagine such a thing. While I am an organism, I do have a lot of mechanical programs, including a computer-like brain with programs. I don't have any programmed objectives, yet he has three. It astounds me.

With Omega's help, we destroyed Eggman's objective of conquering the world, but we left him with Gerald's program. The third one, his own self-built program held the rivalry with Sonic. Shortly after destroyed the Eggman program, he left for reasons unknown. Omega and I parted ways as well. He wished to destroy Eggman. I wished to find out... who am I?

Shadow's Lab

Shadow sat at his computer, reading all the log entries, before the keyboard went into motion, forming a new log.

Jericho Log Seven (Shadow)

After I defeated Black Doom and destroyed the Black Comet, Jericho came back. He was in his normal form, rather than the mage-like form during the Metal Madness incident. He told me he had lessened his rivalry with Sonic and he had heard of my defeat of Black Doom. Apparently, Professor Gerald had programmed him with the purpose of beating Black Doom if I failed. Seems the good doctor had little faith in me. Jericho told me he had a plan. A revolution. The "clones" would step out of their "original's" shadow. I asked what this meant, but he asked me if I was in or out. Then it hit me. He had found Claws and Blades, two robotic entities created by Eggman in order to replicate me in some way, only for Knuckles and Tails instead of Sonic.

When I told him no, he shook his head, calling me a fool, but he did fly off instead of picking a fight.

He planned to kill Sonic and Knuckles. Afterwards, he would undoubtedly remove Tails from me, killing him as he is now ethereal and needs a host to survive. I must find a way to beat him before his plan can go into action. For if he succeeds, I fear the consequences will be dire.

Shadow's Lab

Shadow saved the log entry, then got up, before walking over to his latest find. It was Emerl, the Gizoid that Professor Gerald had discovered. Its eyes lit up as Shadow handed it a Chaos Emerald, which the Gizoid promptly absorbed. The Chaos Emerald reliance is what prompted the name by Sonic, who had dropped in to talk with Shadow a while before.

"Show me your true strength, and I shall obey. I am all things, and all shall belong to me," Emerl said.

The Chaos Emerald had energized it enough to talk properly, which Shadow could only described as good, since it meant he wouldn't have to give up any more Chaos Emeralds.

Shadow pointed at a target a little ways off, drawing upon the power of the Chaos Emerald in his possession, before he attacked.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

A jettison of yellow energy spiked into the target, completely incinerating it, before annhiliating several more objects. Shadow had predicted such a course of events, and so he had made sure anything around the target was replaceable or should be destroyed in any case.

Of course, Brujaa was angered when he discovered that his Backstreet Boys CDs had been destroyed.

"I shall follow your every command, and never leave your side," Emerl said immediately after the Chaos Spear's energy dissipated.

"Just as Gerald said," Shadow noted, aloud, pacing around the Gizoid.

Emerl examined Shadow's pacing, and began mimicking it, keeping to Shadow's side, amusing the Hedgehog. He decided to test Emerl. He formed his twin tails and flew into the air. Emerl examined Shadow for a moment, before using the Chaos energy to form his own tails and use them to propel himself into the air, alongside his master.

Shadow laughed as he continued to test Emerl.


	16. Walls of Jericho: Gizoid

_**Gizoids**_

_**I have been waiting so freaking long for this arc it's not even funny. Seriously. Stop laughing. This chapter was done before the Draak Rei Arc. Hell, it was done before the Ghosts Arc finished.**_

_**By the way, MU is a university featured in Tales of MU. The site name is something like that. It's a really good online book. Read it!**_

Shadow's Lab

Emerl had become a hit with the Hunter Base. Everyone enjoyed the Gizoid. It had developed an interesting personality. It was mostly calm and calculating, but he had moments where he was likely to lash out, or be funny, or even act ovely cocky. Shadow had, like Gerald, tried to scan the Gizoid. Like with Gerald, it didn't work. All he got was reams and reams of combat data, although his computer didn't crash. It just stopped trying to scan.

Shadow stood across from Emerl on a platform, both battle-ready.

"You alright, old man?" Emerl taunted.

"This from the several thousand year old robot?" Shadow shot back.

Emerl shrugged as Shadow shot forward at breackneck speeds. Emerl pistoned a fist out at Shadow. It sent a shockwave through the air as it cut towards his opponent. Shadow ducked beneath the blow and slammed Emerl in the face. Emerl flew back into the barrier, but leapt off into the air immediately afterwards.

The doors opened, but Shadow ignored it. He was too caught up in the battle to notice.

A-A

Omni looked at the visitor. In a chain reaction, Database searched for the visitor in all the information he had in the computer system. Nothing turned up, other than a similar visual status to Emerl. The largest difference was the color and face. Instead of yellow and similar colors, it was purple with blue for the crest, joints, eyes etc. The face was different in the sense that it only had the crest and eyes. Other than those features, it was practically a solid orb.

The Gizoid smacked Omni, sending him reeling into a wall. He then ran behind the nearby Database, grabbed his head, punctured his back, then snipped all of the wires, deactivating the robot. The Gizoid hacked into the computer and proceeded to wait.

A-A

Shadow practically flew at Emerl this time, who didn't seem to be able to react properly. It was a façade, and this fact was made apparent when Emerl snapped to the right, his foot extended properly for Shadow to trip over at the last second.

Shadow flew off the platform, no longer protected by the shield, which had suddenly gone down.

A-A

The Gizoid leapt away from the computer, grabbed Shadow, and punched him repeatedly in the solar plexus until the hedgehog was sent into unconsciousness, being half-organic. His mechanical side tried to take over, but the Gizoid sent an electrical surge shot through him. Shadow blacked out completely, trying to reboot.

The Gizoid landed, then sped off towards the Chaos Emeralds, Emerl in hot pursuit. The Gizoid showed no emotion, but if it could, it would be probably be satisfaction. All was going to plan.

The Gizoid smashed the case around the Chaos Emeralds, and all seven disappeared into the ancient being. It began to glow radiantly, until it shot off for a secret compartment. From there, it found a silver jewel, similar to the Chaos Emeralds in shape. It was the Fusion Emerald. He sped back into Emerl and shoved the Fusion Emerald into his chest. The two Gizoids turned into pure white energy, then merged.

The result was a much taller, much leaner Gizoid with a white and black color scheme.

"Chaos Control!"

The Fuzor disappeared in a burst of green light.

Eggman's Base

In a secret, underground area that even Ivo did not know about, a meeting of minds and powers was taking place. In a burst of green light, the Fuzor appeared. Jericho, once known to the world as Metal Sonic, stood waiting. Two other figures sat at a table. They were both black and red in color scheme. One was similar to Knuckles, while the other resembled Tails. Their names were Claws and Blades, respectively.

"Well?"

The Fuzor spoke up.

"Units Hypo and Gizoid have become one whole entity identified as Hyperion."

Jericho nodded in approval.

"Good. All is as it should be. I have contacted Neo Star and retrieved the weapon you told me about. Here is the All Spark," Jericho said, handing the cube to Hyperion.

When he touched it, the All Spark reconfigured itself into a staff. Jericho's eyelights blinked, absorbing the information on it.

"The All Spark is designed to react specifically to the Gizoids in a manner different from all other beings. It is to become a staff that is capable of transforming machines into Cybertronians and control them," Hyperion said aloud.

"Any machine?" Blades asked.

Hyperion nodded.

"Transform me," Claws said.

Hyperion turned to Jericho, who nodded. Hyperion shot a single white digital beam into Claws. He twisted about for a moment, then his form changed. He became bulkier. A tank gun emerged from his back. Wheels formed on the bottom of his feet. He looked around for a moment, admiring his new form.

Without warning, Hyperion tranformed Blades as well. His torso bulged out more, resembling a helicopter cockpit area. One arm resembled a minigun formed from a helicopter tail. His blades, essentially the robotic form of Tails' tails, straightened out completely.

"So, what, Claws becomes a toy tank and I become a wimpy helicopter?" Blades demanded.

Size was definitely an issue, considering how they stayed the same size as before, still paralleling their opposites.

"No. Cybertronians are primarly composed of nanites, and so you are as well. The nanites have what is considered magical properties. You will become a full size tank and helicopter. I could explain the physics of it, but it isn't necessary and your hard drives would explode before I finished," Hyperion answered.

"What about Jericho over there? You gonna' get an upgrade like us?" Claws asked.

"Hardly. I have no need for it. I am liquid metal. Now that you two have had your fun, I want you to test out your abilities. You see, there are gems of great power..." Jericho began.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hyperion already got the Chaos Emeralds," Claws said.

"The gems I speak of are not the Chaos Emeralds. The Lesser Sages created them. The Greater Sages created three gems of their own. The Grand Emeralds are in a category all their own," Jericho replied.

"Why has no one heard of these... Grand Emeralds?" Blades asked.

"Because they haven't been discovered yet. Shadow is only aware of them. I, on the other hand, discovered the way to find them and utilize them. The Grand Emerald each have names. The Star Sage created the Star Emerald. The Dragon Sage created the Dragon Emerald. The Shadow Sage-" Jericho started.

"Created the Shadow Emerald, thank you, let's move on," Claws said, quickly.

"Wrong. The Shadow Sage created the Tri Emerald and Master Emerald. He favored it as a way to keep balance between himself and the other Sages, because he could neutralize their Emeralds if necessary. The Master Emerald is of no consequence to me. It is useless for all but keeping Angel Island afloat. Angel Island is a strategic base point we will need to utilize if we are to stay alive after our strike. First, you will need to go the Dragon Sage's Temple. There are barriers and guardians, so be on guard," Jericho ordered.

"Sure, whatever," Claws said, waving off the warnings.

Hyperion, Claws, and Blades exited the base through a secret method, while Jericho turned and continued to examine his opponents.

Dragon Temple

Hyperion, Claws, and Blades walked the large stone path built high in a mountain. At the end of the path was a large stone slab with a Dragon carved into it. There were seven slots around, each one hexagonal, but it came to a point at the far end of the slot.

The Chaos Emeralds emerged from Hyperion and slid into the slots, aided by the Gizoid Fuzor's affinity for the gems. They all shone brightly for a moment, then went back to their normal brightness. A hole formed in front of the tablet. The entrance to the Dragon Temple was open.

The three robotic entities slid down the hole into the deep, unpenetrable darkness.

Shadow's Lab

Cyborg walked into the lab, looking for Shadow. The hedgehog had asked to meet with him, to do a technology swap. It was good for the heroes to have similar technology. More improvements were made that way. Of course, being offline _and_ unconscious, Shadow was unable to get to the meeting. This aroused suspicion. Shadow was unable to forget an appointment. His internal CPU would remind him when he needed to get to whatever appointment he had.

That meant one of two things.

1. Shadow had canceled the appointment and not sent the message properly.

or

2. Shadow had the crap knocked out him.

Numero dos waso el righto. That's mock-Spanish for "Number two was right".

Cyborg's eyes widened as he saw Shadow's body sprawled out on the floor. He rushed over to him and began fixing him as quickly as possible.

"C'mon man, you told me you'd get me some info on liquid metal. Don't die on me man. Don't go off line permanently either. Damn, you're such a freak... I need that liquid metal to play a prank on Beastboy, man!" Cyborg spoke, semi-wildly, in an attempt to focus his mind on the task at hand while not getting sick.

Shadow's eyes opened after a moment. A few moments later, Cyborg came into focus. The tin man smiled, then picked up the organic robot, and placed him in the healing chamber.

Cyborg then walked over to the computer.

"View patient in Healing Chamber One," he ordered.

A hologram of Shadow appeared behind him.

"What happened?" Shadow asked.

"I found your body on the floor. I reactivated you, because I figured I need to get you organic and cybernetic help as quick as possible. The healing chambers only fix robots, right?" Cyborg asked.

"I'll need to fix that, but for now, yeah, it only fixes machines," Shadow answered.

"Can _you_ tell _me_ what happened? I am thoroughly in the dark on all of it," Cyborg asked.

Shadow stood, scratching his head for a moment. He sifted through his memory files for a moment, before recalling what happened.

"Ah, yes. You remember Emerl, right?" Shadow asked.

"The little robot punk who punched me clear across the room one time? About your height, yellow, with a large crest on his head?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I remember Emerl."

"Well, he's called a Gizoid. All the files are on my computer. Enter the password: M. A. R. I. A. You'll get the necessary information," Shadow continued.

Cyborg turned around for a moment, hooked up a wire from his arm into the computer, then typed the password in. A second later, he unhooked the wire and turned back around, the wire receding.

"Okay, so Jericho did this?" Cyborg asked.

"No, but I bet he was involved. He took my Chaos Emeralds, Fusion Emerald, and Emerl. I have a hunch that he fused with Emerl, but I can't be sure," Shadow said.

"What do you think they're after?" Cyborg asked.

"My best guess is that Jericho is going beyond just killing Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. I believe that he's going to go for global conquest. Emerl destroyed the Fourth Great Civilization," Shadow said, "It's not that far a stretch to believe that he could, if given enough power, could destroy this one."

"What's the Fourth Great Civilization? It sounds like Atlantis," Cyborg said.

"That's exactly what half of it is," Shadow said.

"What?"

"The Fourth Great Civilization is comprised of two worlds, much like our own. However, instead of the Dark and Hero worlds, they had Atlantis and Mu," Shadow answered.

"Mu? Isn't that a college or something?"

"You're thinking of a university a few miles away from here for those interested in a variety of supernatural arts. Mu is an ancient civilization that was the sister of Atlantis. The first inhabitants of Pangea were Dragovians who had transcended beyond the natural state, attaining divinity. They came here to spread their wisdom by creating a race of people."

"Pangea?"

"I'm getting to that."

"Alright."

Shadow looked through his research files for a moment before continuing.

"Atlantis was all the civilizations beneath the sea, while Mu was on land. The Atlanteans relied entirely on technology, while the Muses relied on nature," Shadow continued.

"Muses?" Cyborg asked.

"It's better than Mus. In any case, the muse is based upon the Muses belief that everyone had a spirit within them that spurred creativity," Shadow said.

"They were hippies."

"They were heavily into nature."

"Right. Hippies."

"Hardly. Muses wielded magic. They were one with the earth. They commanded it and respected it. The Atlanteans, however, dominated the earth and removed it. They eventually created a cybernetic race of beings called the Gizoids. One made it to the Muses. They rejected him. The Gizoid was an abomination against nature, they said. The Gizoid stayed with the Muses, though they rejected him. However, his rage grew, as did his knowledge of magic. The Gizoid already know all the technology of the Atlanteans, and gradually, it discovered all the magic of the Muses. It eventually taught its own people of the arts. However, it remained with the Muses. Something about their life called him to them. He discovered the source of the magic. Seven emeralds. The Chaos Emeralds. He absorbed in an attempt to transcend and become omnipotent, hoping they would accept him."

Cyborg shook his head.

"They didn't accept Emerl, did they?"

Shadow shook his head as he continued.

"No. And with the power and the knowledge. He slew them. The Muses died because they could not accept technology. A few hid. Their fear rendered them mortal and no longer divine. Then the Transcended Gizoid turned his wrath upon the people who could make him... but could not make him accepted. The Atlanteans died. The remains sought shelter above land. His anger didn't cease then. He broke the center of Pangea. The world scattered into pieces. Alone in the void, Emerl finally went offline and crashed into Popstar, where his energies continued to work. They formed the planets into their current shapes, odd as they are. It took over a thousand years, and when his will was done, the Chaos Emeralds scattered once more."

"How come there is so much life on all the planets? There were only Dragovians, right?" Cyborg pondered.

"Dragons first. But they were of no consequence to Emerl. When the worlds scattered, they stayed on one planet, which became Dragon Star after the Star Millenium. The Chaos Emeralds worked off of Emerl's knowledge. He read the work of several Muses. Some were fictitious. Ignorant Dragovians, now humans, were created. Star Warriors. Fairies. Sprites. Gnomes. Gorons. Zoras. Mermaids. Demons. Tricrax. All were created by Emerl's knowledge, whether real or otherwise. Each world had its own basic element. Ripple Star had magic. Dragon Star had Dragons. Machine Star. Rock Star. Aqua Star... There are others, of course. But all the worlds were formed by Emerl. Now, the Gizoid is fused with another of his kind. They have the Chaos Emeralds once more."

Cyborg's eyes widened.

"There's not much to fear. The Gizoid lost his transcended state long ago, along with most of his knowledge. The Chaos Emeralds were also reduced in power by the Sages to create their personal Beasts as a safety precaution. Animal life also drained away a lot of their power. The Chaos Emeralds are no longer able to grant omnipotence like they could before," Shadow said.

Cyborg sighed in relief.

"We will have to find them and stop them. With the Chaos Emeralds, they could attain the Grand Emeralds. The Star Emerald, Dragon Emerald, and Tri Emerald are each as powerful as the seven Chaos Emeralds. We will have to make sure they do not get them. Get Brujaa and Donlan, along with Sonic and Knuckles. Come," Shadow said.

Cyborg nodded, and the pair left the lab. It was time to strike back.


	17. Walls of Jericho: Trumpets

_**Trumpets**_

* * *

_**Claws was created by Ocil, just so you know.**_

_**Yeah, I know it's been a really freaking long time since the last update, but here it is.**_

* * *

Dragon Temple  


Light burst to life from Hyperion's Chaos energies, and the robot trio could see once more. Blades transformed into his helicopter mode for easier transport. Claws and Hyperion, with no faster alternative, chose to walk.

"Okay, now, there has never been an instance of a temple being built without traps," Blades said.

"You're such a nerd," Claws snapped.

At that point, a boulder dropped down behind them. Somewhere, somehow, the Indiana Jones theme music was playing. One long racing scene later, the three robots were at the end of the temple. A ghostly image of Jericho appeared.

"Only one with a Dragon's speed and strength could have gotten through my temple. You are worthy of possessing the Dragon Emerald," the recording said, before dissipating.

Behind him was a circular statue of a serpentine Dragon wrapped around its head.

"So, should we bash the statue's head in? Dude said strength had to get through the temple," Claws said.

"He was probably referring to inner strength, like being able to withstand this high altitude," Blades replied.

Hyperion ignored the creations of Ivo, choosing instead to unleash the Chaos Emeralds. They each shot a single beam of their respective color into the Dragon. It's eyes gave off a black light, and its mouth opened. The Dragon Emerald, a gray Chaos Emerald in looks, floated forth from its maw. Hyperion took it within himself along with the Chaos Emeralds.

"That was... cool. Yeah. Cool. Totally not easy," Blades said.

The Temple began to rumble.

"Well, since you think it's easy, let's see how you handle this," Jericho suddenly said, still a recording.

"I hate you," Claws said, glaring at Blades.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

With the command, the ethereal, chaotic energies swarmed around the three robots, teleporting them outside. Immediately afterwards, the Temple stopped.

"HAHA! Gotcha!" the recording laughed.

Yeah. Jericho is a prankster at heart.

Star Point

The three robotic entities prowled through the strange section of land, looking about. It was early morning by this point, not that it particularly mattered to the trio. After all, they didn't need sleep.

The Dragon Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds floated out of Hyperion and onto the small glowing point of energy. The Chaos Emeralds whirled around it, faster and faster, steadily, until a small tune could be heard from the wheel of energies, with the Dragon Emerald as the axis of sorts.

Two figures walked upon the scene wearing brown cloaks.

"Those are the ones causing the disturbance?" one asked.

"Yes. Shadow told us correctly," the other said.

The three robots were so engrossed by the display of power that was about to produce _more_ power that they didn't noticed the figures. The pair lowered their hoods to reveal that they were the two most powerful and famous Jedi Knights on all of Popstar: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Obi-Wan and Anakin held out their hands in unison, manipulating the air with the Force, causing it to cause a tremendous impact on Blades and Claws, shoving them far off. Hyperion noted the losses, but couldn't do anything. He was too tied up with releasing the Star Emerald to do anything else. The Jedi Knights rushed at Hyperion, but were surprised to see a helicopter shooting zipping towards them, activating the turrets.

They called upon the Force and boosted their speed enough to get out of the line of fire, then they threw their lightsabers into the helicopter. Blades swerved violently to avoid the attack, and still got a minor scrape from one of them.

Obi-Wan and Anakin split up, snatching their lightsabers from mid-air as they did so. Obi-Wan entered a trance-like state for a split-second and successfully called up enough of the Force to give him enough speed and strength to leap high into the air, slicing furiously at Blades. The newly formed Transformer screamed as his tail fan fell from him. He roared angrily as he was forced to transform, arm-less.

"You'll pay for that!"

"Send me the bill."

It was the usual meaningless chitchat known as banter.

Anakin dashed for the battle going on between his friend and the Transformer, but was blocked by a minor explosion several feet in front of him. He leaped away from it in time to avoid being hit. Immediately, he tapped into the Force to figure out where the source of the detonation was. He saw the figures contract and transform in the clearing dust cloud. Anakin flung out his robotic arm, channeled the Force, and sent out a Force Push that slammed into Claws' abdomen, sending him spiraling back.

However, Claws was far more resilient than anyone had ever given him credit for. He was immediately up and firing off laser shots. Anakin became a whirlwind of blue lightning, deflecting every shot right back at Claws, who knocked the shots aside with his fists. They collided with the ground, tearing it apart. Quickly, the area around Claws was torn to shreds, with rubble flying everywhere.

Obi-Wan darted towards Blades, who leaped back, using his propeller tail to keep him in the air, and fired off two missiles. Obi-Wan darted under them, but they exploded too quickly for him to completely escape their blast radius. He was thrust forward into Blades' feet, knocking the breath out of him. Blades took the opportunity to zoom towards his tail fan, which began to remould, becoming liquid. Nanites at work. It touched him, and a tremor went through his form. The liquid grew out from his shoulders, and his arms reformed.

Turrets extended from Blades' arms, and bullets sprayed across the field. If Anakin had been a whirlwind, Obi-Wan was an tornado. No bullet so much as grazed his form, though Blades wasn't as lucky in the evasion department. Not that it was necessary. The bullets that hit him became liquid and reabsorbed into his form. He kept up the assault. His audio receptors that were all over his head scanned Hyperion. The ritual was almost finished. He only needed to delay Obi-Wan a little longer. Nonetheless, he got a little impatient.

"Hyperion, hurry up!" he roared, to no effect.

Anakin darted towards Claws far faster than an ordinary human, leaped over him, and brought his lightsaber down on nothing, as Claws had rolled forward. Two cannons formed on Claws hands, then blasted at Anakin, but missed as Claws' scanners hadn't been able to get a proper trajectory. The opponents leaped to their feet, and prepared to attack again. Anakin was in Claws' face before the Cybertronian could comprehend it, and the Lightsaber stuck into his torso. His metal clamped down upon Claw's head, but he would not be deterred.

The Knuckles look-alike slung a fist at the Jedi Knight, grazing him, but still sending him flying. The Lightsaber deactivated and fell from Claws' still prone form. His slightly crushed head and sliced torso began to heal with a quick fluctuation of nanites. He jumped into the air and transformed into the massive tank. Shots were cracked off at a steady beat. Anakin summoned his Lightsaber to him, then took to deflecting the blows.

Hyperion whirled around, the second Grand Emerald in his possession.

"Let's go!" he bellowed.

Claws and Blades leaped to and grabbed his arms in preparation for what was about to come.

"Chaos Control!" Hyperion shouted, invoking the Emeralds.

They disappeared in a burst of light. Anakin and Obi-Wan stumbled towards each other, huffing for breath.

"We'll have to report what's happened to Shadow, immediately," Obi-Wan gasped.

Anakin nodded, and they set off for the Hunter Base.

Hunter Base

It had drifted into the afternoon by the time the Knights reached the base. Shadow was in the lobby, eager for their report.

"They got the Star Emerald, I'm afraid. They were unusual opponents, able to transform. We were not enough for them," Obi-Wan said.

"Argh. Alright then. Go on inside. There's a few Bacta Tanks in the lab, if you'd like to take a dip," Shadow offered.

They nodded, then walked passed him, towards the lab. Shadow cursed to himself as he walked through the base, trying best to think of who best could deal with the robots. The answer came to him quickly.

Shadow's Lab

"Donlan, Docy, X, Zero, and Axl, I've summoned you here because of the recent robot crisis. Have you heard about it?" Shadow asked.

"Well, there was the robot rebellion on the Dark Side of Popstar, but it was quickly squished to pieces by Eggman, Slade, and Control Freak," Donlan said, "Additionally, no, I'm not sure how they got paired up for the job."

"No. The Jericho crisis. I issued a digital copy to every personal computer in the Hunter Base," Shadow said, "Did you not read it?"

Donlan raised his hand sheepishly. Axl shrugged.

"The only reason I did was because I don't actually _have_ to read it. Poor non-robots," Axl snickered.

Donlan's raised hand lowered all the fingers on it but one, which was aimed at Axl. Everyone in the room rolled their eyes, and then Donlan looked at Docy.

"Since when do you read the eMemos from Shadow?" Donlan asked.

"I've been picking up more militaristic habits lately. One of those is keeping informed."

"Great. You're going Boot Camp on me. We're hitting the clubs and getting sloppy drunk as soon as we get fake IDs. Douglas might be able to help," Donlan said.

"I doubt he'd help you get in clubs, and I doubt you could get in anyways. You're too young to try to pass for 21," X said.

"Hey, we're both 17. Surely we could get away with it..."

"Possibly, and don't call me Shirley," Docy said.

"Babbling!" Shadow shouted.

"Sorry," Docy and Donlan replied.

"Anyways," Shadow growled, "Jericho and his three assistants, Claws, Blades, and the Gizoid that Obi-Wan tells me is called Hyperion, are out on a desperate bid to get the Grand Emeralds. They've got two out of three. The final one is in the Desolate Plains, the Shadow Temple more specifically. I can warp you there instantly. The ritual that is necessary to obtain the Tri Emerald will undoubtedly last a while, even considering the time advantage they already have. Get in the warp chamber and I'll send you to the right place," Shadow ordered.

They all obliged, though X, Zero, and Axl felt it was redundant. Shadow typed in the coordinates, and they vanished.

Desolate Plains

Hyperion, levitating, had the seven Chaos Emeralds whirling around his frame quickly, to the point where they were more like a solid ring than one made up of individual parts. The Star Emerald and Dragon Emerald were quite affixed in the air, pointing at the massive circular nexus of purple, blue, and black energy called the Shadow Temple. Beams shot out from the Grand Emeralds, converging on one point upon the Temple.

Claws and Blades stood guard, watching the spectacle, along with everything else. Thus, the quintet of heroes Shadow sent were immediately noticed.

"Never the element of surprise for us," Donlan sighed as the robotic warriors rushed at them.

Blades transformed and immediately took to shooting at the gang. Donlan was consumed by flames for a split-second, and when they died down, he was the mighty Dragon once more. His red scales glittered for a moment in the desert sun, but then they dulled to their ordinary color.

Donlan shot for Blades, and they collided swiftly in the air. Donlan avoided the turrets with relative ease, rolled up the windshield, then righted himself. He looked inside the cockpit, hoping for a weakness of some sort to make itself evident.

"Okay, Flyboy, I don't got time. Explain your weakness like every other retard villain so I can go kill the dude with all the shinies surrounding him," Donlan ordered, knocking on the windshield.

"I am not like other villains, you'll find," Blades growled.

Without warning, he transformed into his robot form, reforming and shrinking. Donlan was startled and dropped for a few seconds before he got himself under control, during which time he took back to the air and regained his altitude. He shot a fireball at Blades, who wasn't able to dodge in time. The Tails look-alike recoiled from the blow, angered by the pain as his nanites were damaged. They repaired themselves and fixed the damage in a split-second, so Donlan wasn't able to figure out just how much damage he had done.

He held up his turret gun, but was blasted by a charge shot from the ground. Roaring in frustration, he turned his gun upon the ground, firing away, while scanning it for the source.

"I got your back, Donlan!" X shouted.

X went into a series of back flips, cartwheels, and a few dodge rolls (forward and sideways) to avoid the bullets. Donlan went kamikaze, his target Blades, firing fireballs the whole way. Blades shot up higher into the air, then shot at the passing Donlan. One shot clipped his side, while another hit him in the back. Fortunately for him, his scales held up, making sure the blow wasn't fatal. It did screw up his flight enough that he was forced to land as quickly as possible.

Claws was having more luck with his opponents, despite the fact that he was taking on all three at once, pretty much. Axl mostly hung back and shot at him every now and then. Docy and Zero, however, were all up in his face, swords swinging. What was worse was that their swords gave off as much heat as those wretched_ lightsabers_, and those _hurt._ Growling, Claws jumped high into the air and began twirling. He became a swirling mass for a moment, then disappeared beneath the sand.

"Zero, Axl, where is he?!" Docy demanded, slightly panicked.

Zero and Axl were scanning the ground for all they were worth, but came up with nothing. Axl's guns were cocked, and Zero had his Z-Buster primed, his Z-Saber flourished. Docy pocketed his Ecto-Hilt, then prepared to summon up other Ecto Abilities. His hands had a faint blue glow surrounding them.

_SHOOM._

_BLAMBLAMBLAM!_

Claws erupted from the sand and fired his cannon three times in rapid succession. Axl and Zero were blown back, skipping across the sand like rocks across water. Docy, however, had summoned an Ecto Shield just in time. It was made in a way to mostly divert the blast, which allowed it to stay steady against it. Immediately, the energy was reabsorbed and used as the Ecto Cannon, which slammed into Claws, knocking him back several feet. Docy took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, put his hands together in a prayer manner, and ecto electricity sparked around his frame. His eyes snapped open, and all the ecto-electricity surged into Claws.

The robot stood his ground, despite inadvertantly taking it _in the face_. His cannon snapped to attention, and Docy was blasted across the desert. Claws looked around, many of his video receptors rebooting because of the electricity. He wasn't able to detect the Maverick Hunter until the attacks hit. Twin blasts slammed into his back, knocking him on his face. An explosive blast tore from the ground, knocking him into the air. The pistols set to work again, blasting him again and again. Zero surged up from the sand, blasting with his buster. Claws slammed the buster shot back at Zero, who sliced through it with the saber. He used the cannon to jet out of the way of the next set of Axl Bullets, then to knock Zero into his fellow.

Claws righted himself, the nanites at work again. He held his fists before him, almost as if in a "which hand is it in?" game. The claws that were upon the knuckles of his hand widened into guns, which went into action. Quickly, Axl and Zero were forced to find shelter. In the meantime, Docy had disappeared.

Hyperion focused on the task at hand. His scanners told him that he was at 99.9 percent. 100. A warp hole appeared, and an object was drawn out by the Star and Dragon Emeralds. The beam moved, moving the Tri Emerald with it. The beam lowered the Emerald to Hyperion, who grabbed it. The Chaos Emeralds and Grand Emeralds all gave off an intense flare of light. So much power in one place would inevitably cause such a reaction.

Hyperion disappeared.

He reappeared behind Blades, grabbed him, and disappeared again.

He reappeared behind Claws, grabbed him, and disappeared again.

Everyone looked around. Docy's head popped up from the sand. Donlan landed beside him, then pulled him all the way out.

Hyperion did not reappear.

"They got the Tri Emerald," Zero stated simply, sensing the intense traces of lingering Chaos Energy.

"FFFFFFF-" Donlan and Docy growled.

Shadow's Lab

X sat in the lab with Shadow, explaining what had happened.

"When we got back, they said they needed rest. They've gone to their rooms. What shall we do about Jericho and the rest?" X reported.

"We will have to bide our time. We need to figure out his plan somehow. He's not megalomaniacal. He won't openly declare it. We'll need to somehow capture one of his comrades and get the information from them," Shadow said.

Hyperion appeared in the lab. He was obviously straining with something. Speak of the plot device, and it will appear.

"Shadow... It's me. Emerl. I've managed to block out... Argh! Not much time. Jericho will build an army and attack here. He has Allspark and will use Emeralds to boost his forces and himself. ARGH!" Emerl shouted, "I must go, before I am discovered!"

Hyperion disappeared in a minor pulse of light. Shadow only hoped his friend wouldn't suffer for what he would do. His hover-boots activated, and he took off, X in his wake.

"We must prepare for war!" Shadow shouted.


	18. Walls of Jericho: March

_**March**_

_**Yeah, I know it's been a really freaking long time since the last update yet AGAIN, but here it is. You can pretty much get over the idea of this thing updating more than three times a year.**_

_**There's an obscure reference to one of the best Kirby games ever in this chapter, and I ain't referring to any planets mentioned.**_

_**Then there are two characters, which are so obscure, that they're from a friend's comic on DeviantArt. His penname on there is DarthDespario, and here's a direct link to his stuff, if you want to see the characters: darthdespario . deviantart . com (Clear the spaces... maybe add a www or something.)**_

A-A

"How much support will Machine Star send?" Hyperion asked.

"They've given me their best estimate of 300 Gizoids, backed up by 1,000 Cybertronians, all delivered in 13 HR-H's. The Hunter Base, at its fullest, might've been able to hold us off for a few days. As they are, it'll be taken down in hours, with their forces constantly scattered. Despite your inability to restrain your other half, the plan will go off without a hitch," Jericho noted.

Hyperion didn't react, even when Jericho slipped out an energy tentacle, one of four now on his back ever since his Jericho Upgrade, that snatched the All-Spark and tossed it to him. Hyperion grabbed it, transformed it, and held it up for a moment, examining its properties, noting alterations.

"I wish to take the base as quickly as possible. You are the best one among us to wield it. I have made similar staves for myself and you two," he said, pointing at Claws and Blades.

"As they are based on the All-Spark, but unable to properly create as it does, I have dubbed them Sub-Spark Staves."

The Transformers nodded, accepting the tossed Sub-Spark Staves. The staves adjusted, now proportionate to their size, and then became a medallion, which clamped onto their chests.

"When will the troops arrive?" Hyperion asked.

"They should be entering hyperspace now, which means they'll be here in one hour."

A-A

Shadow stood outside the Hunter Base, in front of approximately 200 various heroes and heroines. Many of them were familiar to the eyes, while others were new and relatively inexperienced, which was what Shadow believed to be the reason why they were even _here_. A major battle on Popstar was huge, yeah, but it was commonplace, all the same. Many had their own villains to deal with.

The team of what some called the Hero Brawlers, from Mario to Captain Falcon, were all there. Anyone Sonic had ever met was also present. Dee had yet to be chased off by Nature. A whole bunch of what were clearly green heroes, such as some 17-year-old kid holding a cane in his hand. His suit seemed to be decent in nature. Shadow approached him.

"Who are you?"

"Nathaniel."

"What can you do?"

"This is the Staff of Gladstone I possess, along with the spirit of the Djinn, Bartimaeus. I am an Omega Level Magician because of it," he said.

"Okay then," Shadow muttered, turning away.

Maybe they weren't as green as they appeared. Shadow zoomed along, through their ranks, and spotted a kid wielding a bronze sword.

"Your name, son?"

"Perseus Jackson. Call me Percy."

"Your abilities?"

"Hydrokinesis and decent abilities with Anaklusmos here," Percy replied, holding up the sword.

"Greek for Riptide, right?" Shadow asked.

Percy nodded.

"Are those girls with you?" Shadow asked, pointing out the group of girls in white behind him.

"Those are the Hunters. Allies of mine, but they're not "with me", for the most part," Percy answered.

One of them, a black girl, who looked very punk rock, smirked.

"That's Thalia, she's one of the friendlier of the bunch," Percy said.

"Alright then... Hmm... That's an interesting couple," Shadow said, skating off once more.

The couple mentioned was a winged woman, who had strange green designs on her largely black outfit. The man had most black suit with blue designs, along with gray boots, a wrist device, and collar piece. He wielded a katana, and wore a black and blue eye mask.

"You two are newer than those people. I've actually heard of them, in some indirect way," Shadow declared, eyeing them.

"I'm Force, and this is Eagle," the man, Force, said.

"Nice to meet you," Eagle said.

"Under better circumstances, I'd be happy to see you. In this manner... not so much. Though... now that you mention your names, you sound familiar. Part of a team?"

"I'm the leader of Team Eclipse. The others are currently at our city, dealing with a few old rivals," Force replied.

"Ah. Well, in any case, be careful, and best of luck," Shadow said.

It was going to be an interesting fight, that was for certain.

A-A

"How many of them have actually fought in a major battle before?" Brujaa asked.

"Only eleven haven't. The rest have had participated in a large battle against a myriad of enemies, or a Hidden Boss level enemy," Shadow answered.

Brujaa and Donlan nodded, obviously pleased. Sonic seemed to appear beside them in a blur.

"Alright, I heard Metal Sonic was leading the fight. Is that just some rumor spread around or what?" Sonic asked.

"It's true. Metal Sonic upgraded himself and now calls himself Jericho, but the entire purpose of this whole charade is to get a shot at you," Shadow said.

"Dude's got problems. Why don't he just issue a formal challenge?" Donlan asked.

"Probably because Sonic wouldn't take him seriously unless he had shown what he was fully capable of doing," Shadow said.

"Pretty much, yeah," Sonic agreed, with a nod.

Brujaa groaned.

"Fun. So, basically, because you're such an apathetic ass to your enemies, Metal Sonic feels he has to try to kill everyone, just so you'll buckle down and fight him as seriously as you're supposed to?"

"Yup."

"Hate you. _So_ very much."

Sonic gave his trademark smile and a thumbs-up, while Brujaa and Donlan headed away, towards a different part of the front line. The battle was closing in; they could feel it.

A-A

Donlan and Brujaa weren't terribly stressed out over the battle, truth be told. They were annoyed at having to fight large numbers, yeah, but there wasn't any fear to speak of, concerning the battle, in any case.

Then down came the HR-H's, one after other. They shot out beams that reformed, almost digital in appearance, into Cybertronians and Gizoids alike. There were 1300 total fighters, until Blades, Claws, Jericho, and Hyperion appeared on the field in a burst of Chaotic Energy.

"Oh snaps," Brujaa and Donlan squeaked.

A strange creature, a midget really, darted forward through the ranks. Four twisting tentacles seemed to seizure about on his back. He wore a brown trench coat, and had an eerie resemblance to Doctor Octopus, truth be told.

"DOCTOR OCTAGONAPUS, BLAAAAAAAAAAGH!" the creature roared.

He shot a _massive_ blue beam of pure energy that blew up all the ships but one, along with a few dozen of the Cybertronians. When it stopped, a team of Gizoid then shot a similar attack back at him, obliterating the bizarre creature. Obviously, because he's the fucking Doctor Octagonapus, he would randomly respawn elsewhere, but for now, he wasn't any help.

"Great, now all the Gizoids can shoop da whoop," Brujaa groaned.

"Let's fire our lazers!" Donlan shouted.

Immediately, the Hunter Base shifted, becoming a weapon of mass destruction. Gun turrets, missile launchers, beams, and similar erupted from within the walls, and all of them began tearing through the Cybertronians.

For about a minute.

Then Hyperion held up the All-Spark Staff, which projected a massive shield around the army. Claws, Blades, and Jericho held up their Sub-Spark Staves, the latter of the three holding up four with his energy strands. The shields reflected most of the shots back at the projector, causing about 70 percent of the base's weapons to be put out of comission, if only temporarily. The shield was wiped away, and a barrage of energy beams were sent towards the opposing army. Most of them were able to dodge. A few received minor injuries.

"Okay, note to self... That thing you did... don't do that," Donlan muttered.

A-A

Jericho charged hard and fast, but was intercepted by a kick from Sonic, just as he anticipated.

"All this for me? And it's not even my birthday," Sonic joked, jumping in the air.

Jericho growled, swinging his staves, all of them blasting at Sonic, who dodged them with ease.

"You're too slow!" Sonic shouted.

Sonic curled up into a ball, spun for a moment, before zooming into Jericho, sending him skidding across the ground. Sonic spun dashed again, this time drilling down on Jericho, making sure he took the full brunt of the blow for as long as possible. Sonic leaped back and landed, quickly getting into a ready-to-fight pose, waving his finger in a "no no" manner.

Jericho swung all four staves about his frame in a wild manner, trying to lock onto Sonic, but the Blue Blur was far too fast for him to shoot. All the shots were knocked aside or dodged in some form or fashion. Then, things got worse. Sonic completely disappeared from Jericho's vision. Then he felt a tug, and a staff was gone. (Why no, that wasn't an intentional reference to the ever famous moment in the 90's, in which a star was castrated, then quoted as saying "I felt a tug".)

He whirled around, and his sensors found Sonic to the left. Instantly, all of his Sub-Spark Staves shot at the hedgehog. A shield was erected, and the blows were deflected. Sonic stood there, smirking, holding the fourth Sub-Spark Staff, waving it like a broken bulb.

"Looking for this?" he taunted.

Jericho growled, charging at Sonic, claws extended fully. He ripped through the shield, then pistoned out a fist that would've ended Sonic right then if he hadn't ducked, then slammed out a kick that knocked Jericho's feet out from under him. Sonic aimed another kick that slammed Jericho in the face. He leaped to his feet, then pointed the staff at Jericho.

"Imma firin' mah lazers!" Sonic said with a laugh.

And so he did.

However, Jericho still had _three_ staves of his own, all of which projected a shield, an unnecessary measure, but it worked. Sonic leaped back, prepared for a counter-attack, and counter-attack Jericho did. His claws pointed at Sonic, and energy charged within them. Storm clouds began to form, and the rain began to pour. Sonic's eyes bulged, as he recognized the attack. Lightning struck a few feet away.

_KRA-KOOOM!_

Sonic leaped away from the point of impact, shooting at Jericho. He was forced into a series of evasive maneuvers, constantly moving, constantly trying to shoot, occasionally able to get off a shot that was usually blocked. One stray backfired shot knocked the staff out of his hand. Another one grazed his leg, but did enough damage that forced him to his knees. Jericho gently got to his feet, and aimed the Sub-Spark Staves at Sonic. They fired. Sonic looked around, trying desperately to find his staff.

A-A

Donlan and Brujaa charged through the combatants, jumping over most, before they reached their target: Hyperion. The Fuzor Gizoid was unsurprised to see them.

"Guys! RUN!" Emerl shouted.

Hyperion shook himself gently, and Hypo shoved Emerl's conscience deep down within the programming, allowing Hypo to become the dominant force once more. Hyperion twirled the All-Spark Staff, pointed it at the Adventurers, and a massive energy cannon tore through the air. Brujaa and Donlan narrowly avoided the beam. Several dozen Cybertronians didn't. The guys heard a female scream, and they whirled around to see a dying woman, who they quickly recognized as Xena.

Their eyes widened in shock as they registered her death. No time to mourn, no time to hesitate. Hyperion sped towards them, and they were forced on the defensive. Donlan ducked under a swing, and Brujaa took the opportunity to slam Hyperion with an Ecto Cannon. Hyperion shot a cannon of his own, which Brujaa weaved around.

Hyperion ducked under Donlan's swing, then delivered an uppercut that sent him flying into the air. Brujaa flew at Hyperion, who whirled around and delivered a swift punch to Brujaa's face. It sent the ghostly teen flying back into a tree. The boy slid down onto the ground, and the battle, made hazy by rain, became even fuzzier.

Then it all went black.


	19. Walls of Jericho: Fall

_**Fall**_

_**And this, my friends, is the final chapter of Adventures: Genesis. I'd like to thank everyone who helped (Ocil for betaing, Duncan McGregor and Chaltab for reviewing). And I like to let anyone interested know that the sequel has already begun. How? I wrote that first chapter waaaaaaaay ahead of time! XD**_

_**Let the record show: at precisely 1:00 AM, December 2nd, the final chapter of Adventures: Genesis was completed.**_

_**YAY! LET'S ALL HOPE THAT THE NEXT ONE DOESN'T SUCK AS MUCH!

* * *

**_Brujaa's mind currently in shutdown meant that Brujaa was facing off with two gods of wrath combined on his own. However, he had his own wrath, that called forth something terrible. It called forth the very essence of his being, of his lineage, and of his nature.

It called forth a humming.

The humming wasn't heard at first, it was felt. The power coursed through his torso, his arms, his legs, his wings, his tail, then finally his neck and head. The pitch grew deeper, and the sound grew louder. Donlan was vaguely aware of the lines of light crackling across his body. He didn't notice his red scales darkening steadily, becoming as black as pitch. He didn't notice the white armor forming over his clawed appendages, his joints, and other parts of the body, until everything was covered. He barely saw the laser-like shield form around his wings.

All he noticed was the hatred he felt towards Hyperion. The rage he felt.

The raw, unbridled _power_.

The humming reached a high pitch, before fading away, revealing the awesome avatar of the Dragons, the Draak Rei.

"**You have sinned against the Cult of Dragons. Your crime? Injury to the friend of the Draak Rei. Your punishment? Death**," Draak Rei boomed.

Draak Rei took off towards Hyperion at unreal speeds, a sonic boom echoing off behind him. Hyperion leaped over the initial charge, but was unable to dodge a series of cannon-like shots projected from Draak Rei's chest and mouth. The host to the spirits of the Dragon Kings long dead swooped up, then flexed open all his wings, energy swarming around his frame.

"**ETERNAL FLAME!**" Draak Rei roared.

A massive laser shot towards Hyperion, who erected a shield via the All-Spark Staff. There was a brief struggle of DBZ proportions, before the shield shattered and Hyperion was blown back. Draak Rei shot down towards Hyperion, fire licking around his frame as he came down like a comet. Hyperion leaped back, narrowly avoiding being part of the crater that formed from the massive impact.

"**For Xena's death and Brujaa's injuries, I will fight until you no longer function!**" Draak Rei shouted.

Hyperion hefted up the All-Spark staff, twirling it for a moment before firing off a series of shots that crashed into Draak Rei. The smoke trailed off of his armor, as he continued his charge towards the Gizoid Fuzor. He glided for a moment, before landing on all fours, then began to run towards his target.

_You're a primal Draak Rei, I see. Much less refined than the previous one._

**Jericho?**

Hyperion formed another shield, charging up a laser beam while he waited for his target to approach. Draak Rei took off at the last second, tearing through the shield and avoiding the laser, that tore through several Cybertronians.

_Yo. Here to help, as a favor to Bahamut. I owe him for about 70 card games._

**How so?**

Hyperion twirled around, then leaped up and onto Draak Rei's back. He thrust his All-Spark Staff into the Dragon King's back, spearing his wing joints. Draak Rei howled in pain, doing somersaults and barrel rolls, trying desperately to throw off the annoyance.

_Well, you see, he had better cards._

**HOW ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME? SON OF A SANDWORM.**

_Watch._

Draak Rei managed to dislodge Hyperion and actually breathe deep, as he looked up. His first thought was "meteor shower", but then he looked closer.

**Dragons?**

_Spirits of Dragons long since passed._

**Interesting...**

The Draco-Spirits crashed down on the battlefield, then quickly got to their feet and launched themselves into the fray.

A-A

Jericho gently got to his feet, and aimed the Sub-Spark Staves at Sonic. They fired. Sonic looked around, trying desperately to find his staff. He cringed as he felt his death coming for him, then looked up when it didn't. There, a 17 year old boy stood there, with a staff of his own. A faint aura pulsated around his being.

"Nathaniel," the boy said.

Sonic smiled, standing up.

"Thanks, Nathaniel."

He shrugged, before turning the Staff of Gladstone on Jericho, sending a burst of magic into Sonic's greatest rival. Jericho flew back, and was slammed into by the trademark Sonic Buzzsaw. Jericho hit the ground, then bounced up, just in time for Sonic to land on him for a good kicking-off point. Jericho slammed into the ground a final time.

Sonic landed on the ground, prepared to keep up the fight. Nathaniel twirled the Staff of Gladstone, pointing it at the recovering Jericho.

A-A

The titan of a Dragon was formerly called Azuulra, and he was having fun destroying the puny Cybertronians. Lasers passed through him, swords had no effect, and grenades merely irritated his hearing. He laughed it all off, clawing through the ranks.

In his former life, he had been a Grand Devourer, with well over nine-thousand beings having passed through his digestion system. He cursed the fact that he couldn't eat his new opponents, but he remained content enough with merely destroying them and getting a work-out.

_Yo, Hector's my name, and I'm the original Speedster. Sonic can breach the Sound Barrier, but I once broke the speed of light. It was what killed me sure, but it was fun as hell, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!_

Hector, as he called himself, _greatly_ enjoyed the freedom he had been temporarily granted by the Dragon Sage. He was a small Dragon, approximately the size of a lion, but he had a tremendous wingspan.

_CRUNCH._

_SLICE._

_SLICE SLICE SLICE SLICE!_

Not to mention great claws, which had torn through several dozen Cybertronians. Hector chuckled, a light, grating sound, as he shredded one to pieces.

The others continued in a similar fashion, until the Cybertronians' numbers had been whittled down to a mere handful of around a dozen or so.

Unfortunately for the Draco-Spirits, even Sages had their limits, apparently, as the spirits slowly began to fade...

But then... when the spirits faded, the _heroes_ went into action.

"FOR THE HORDE!" Force yelled.

A-A

Draak Rei settled into position that actually made him look a cannon. From his head to his tail, there was a straight line, aside from the spikes. His hands and legs were perfectly positioned to ensure his body remained in that position. Energy of all colors gathered around him, swiftly.

Hyperion glared at him as he drew symbols in the ground. The circle of magic was completed with a final, quick, calculated stroke and Hyperion pointed the All-Spark Staff at Draak Rei, letting loose at beam of white energy.

Draak Rei roared in pain as the white energy tore into his flank. Energy kept swirling about him, as the cosmos continued to assist him.

"**Hyperion... your name... Is that of a Titan's.** "

"What of it?"

Draak Rei laughed, a strange laughter composed of a thousand voices.

"**It's simple... I AM AN OLYMPIAN!** "

All of the energy issued from Draak Rei's maw as a black beam of energy, which completely consumed Hyperion.

A-A

Knuckles versus Claws.

Master Emerald Guardian versus Tank Transformer.

Echidna versus Echidna.

It was going to be one _hell _of a battle.

They ran towards one another, growling lowly. Just before they met, Knuckles leaped up and kicked off of Claws. He spun and landed in a punch to the back of Claws' head. Claws hit the dirt, then transformed into his tank form. His turret swivelled around and pulsed off three shots towards Knuckles, who rolled under them, then leaped to the side.

Claws remade himself into his Mobian form and dashed for his target. Knuckles got to his feet, and his battle senses went into overdrive. Quickly, he processed what was happening and reacted, by charging towards his opponent. Raging and roaring, their fists pistoned out towards one another. Metal claws met metal-plated knuckles, and a ripple tore through the air.

Trains crashing.

Cars smashing.

Titans bashing.

None could compare.

_This was what it's like when worlds collide!_

A-A

A helicopter is a destructive force. A helicopter with a machine gun and missiles is an _incredibly_ destructive force. A helicopter with a machine gun, missiles, and sentience a WMD, plain and simple.

And right now, that was what Shadow was facing.

Blades zipped by him, tearing up the ground with bullets, in a failed attempt to pierce the black hedgehog. Shadow sent a burst of Chaos energy towards the sentient helicopter, which was dodged. A missile was launched towards him, which he dodged, in turn.

Well, mostly.

The explosion's shockwave knocked him to the ground, and a series of bullets punctured his body. Shadow sat up, moaning in... not so much _pain_, since he didn't feel that, so much as a sense of violation. He had once known pain at its fullest, and dealt with it regularly, when he thought of Maria. Now that he had deadened his pain receptors and replaced them with cybernetic implants that informed him of the damage done to his body, he no longer felt the massive warning signals that so many humans had come to hate. However, he still felt the violation of a dagger digging through him, or a drill tearing into him. It wracked his body with a different sort of pain.

He could still shrug it off.

He could still move on.

He could still fight, even with the horrible violation of bullets tearing into him.

He could and he _would_.

The black hedgehog darted forward, leaped into the air, and disappeared. Blades' eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened when he felt a sudden increase in weight. Then the punch pierced his tailblade.

A-A

Let no one tell you Knuckles is a wimp. He took as many blows as he dished out, and still stood through it all. But he was tiring, quickly. His opponent was made of metal and electricity. He, on the other hand, was composed of flesh and blood. There was an inherent difference in endurance.

Knuckles fell to the ground, moaning in pain and coughing up blood. Claws chuckled darkly as his hand shifted into a gun.

_FWOOSH!_

A torrent of water slammed into the robotic echidna, knocking him away. A boy in an orange shirt and jeans landed in front of Knuckles and stood up, unsheathing a pen, which turned into a bronze blade. He nodded at Knuckles.

"Percy, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles?"

Knuckles nodded.

Percy turned towards Claws.

"So, who's your recolor over there?" Percy asked.

Claws growled and raised up his arm, which continued transforming into a pulse cannon. Percy's eyes widened and he rolled to the side, avoiding seven of the shots. Knuckles was only lucky enough to avoid the shots, but not the impact waves. He was sent flying, then skidding, into the ground. Percy's ADHD allowed him to notice this and the next shot being primed, aimed straight for him. The son of Poseidon leaped into the air, avoiding the eighth shot, and when he came down, he came down_ hard_.

_RUMBLLLLLLLLLE!_

Claws fell on his back as the very earth began to tremble. Spikes of earth were launched into the air and crashed back down on him, causing massive amounts of internal damage. He whispered something Percy couldn't detect, and the earth was rocked again, this time by an explosion that consumed the area, making it a crater. Percy's eyes widened.

"Holy Hera," he muttered under his breath.

Knuckles clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Percy... thank you," he said.

Percy shrugged.

"Hey, it's what I do."

A-A

Blades, now lacking a tailblade, spun out of control and into the ground, but not before Shadow leaped off of the out-of-control helicopter transformer. There were after-images following the hedgehog closely through the air, before he suddenly changed direction, slowing down and heading for the ground. Blades transformed into his robot mode and tumbled along the ground for a few seconds, before getting to his feet in a blitz of acrobatics. His left arm, a mangled heap, detached and liquified into a strange silver substance that began to ooze about, before dissolving completely.

"Nanite apoptosis?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah... Jericho doesn't want anyone figuring out the secret to the Cybertronians."

"Neither do the Cybertronians, I take it?"

"Hell no."

Shadow sped towards Blades, who unsheathed his namesake, which began spinning. He tossed his special blade towards Shadow.

Time slowed down, but this was no Chaos Control. This was pure adrenaline rush.

The blade whirled... ever so slowly...

Shadow's hoverskates moved forward, one after the other... in perfect sequence...

Slowly, like the motion was barely happening, Shadow flattened himself to the ground...

The blade whooshed overhead, and time sped up again.

Shadow kicked off the ground, feeling the wind rushing through his quills. His speed increased as a green energy pulsed around his body for a few moments, and his direction changed again.

Time slowed down for Blades, this time, but he wasn't as lucky. The sudden loss of his left arm was a shock to his movement systems, which hadn't been able to recover. Shadow shouted no mocking banter, no pointless references. He was killing a fellow robot, even if it was to protect a friend.

Shadow, for all his faults, cared about life.

_All_ of it.

Even as his foot went through Blades' very core, sending out a blaze of energy as his Spark flickered and died, Shadow sent out a prayer to the Sages, begging that Blades would receive mercy in the afterlife.

A-A

Sonic had attained many bumps and bruises throughout the battle. He was bleeding lightly from approximately 30 places, and he was way out of breath. Nathaniel appeared incredibly tired, but with much less battle scarring. Jericho looked undamaged, but his internal processors were telling him of the massive amounts of damage he had sustained and the energy he had expended. Inwardly, the bot formerly known as Metal Sonic cursed.

"Ready to go, "Jericho"? I can keep this up _all day_!" Sonic taunted.

Of course, this was Sonic's typical banter, which was 1 part courage and 9 parts bull. Nathaniel arched a brow, but said nothing, choosing to hold up the Staff of Gladstone, swirling with magic.

Jericho grunted, before making the tactical decision.

"It's not over, yet, hedgehog!" Jericho roared, before he stomped a hole in the ground, then shot a massive energy tendril through it, deepening the crack all the way down to a sewer.

"He's trying to escape!" Sonic shouted, as he started to run, but fell instead, coughing.

Nathaniel started to shoot at Jericho, but his attention was drawn by the fallen hedgehog, and he immediately switched to a healing spell. By the time he looked up again, Jericho had disappeared.

"How...?" Nathaniel asked, noticing that the crack was far smaller than Jericho had been.

Sonic merely groaned as his body faded into unconsciousness, too spent to even ask for a chili dog.

A-A

Hyperion sparked and twitched as he attempted to sit up, before falling back again. Draak Rei approached him, slowly fading into Donlan.

"Emerl...?" Donlan asked.

"There is no Emerl! He and Hypo are gone... _forever_... There is no coming back for them..." Hyperion said.

"And you'll... never join us?" Donlan asked.

Hyperion shook his head.

"My primary objective is to kill you. It can never be changed, no matter your pleading!"

Donlan held back his tears, his sobs, his desperate pleas. He got on his hand and knees in front of the incapacitated Hyperion, looking at the irreparably damaged robot.

"I'm so sorry... Emerl... forgive me."

_SHINK!_

_CRUNCH!_

His claws pierced Hyperion's chest. For a second, the robot's eyes turned blue, the color of Emerl's.

"Of course... Donny..."

The blue eyes faded to black, and Donlan let out a gasping sob as he pulled his claws from the dead Gizoid's chest. His tears flowed freely, as the rain fell in sheets.

Later on, Donlan would hear that the speech Shadow gave was the best one all of the heroes had ever heard. "Triumph" this, and "our day to shine" that. Donlan barely remembered his comrades cheering. All he heard was the roaring of the thunder and the silence that followed with a friend's death.

Eggman's Base

"Some plan!" Claws raged.

"Oh, shut up! You escaped! Blades wasn't so lucky," Jericho snapped.

"Yeah, that's because the moron didn't think to use those dynamite disks and a quick teleport, like I did."

"Well, what do we do now? Make another plan?"

"Screw that. I'm going solo. We've lost everything, Chaos Emeralds, Grand Emeralds, _and_ your stupid battle. I'd do better on my own."

"Your logic is _severely_ flawed."

Claws ignored him as he left the base.

Eternity's Graveyard

In an underground area, lit by thousands of torches, fallen heroes and heroines rested in their final slumber, slipping out of time, but not yet memory. It was here that many congregated, as the body's of Xena, Warrior Princess, and Emerl, the friendly Gizoid, were put into their graves.

Respectful words were spoken from those who knew them. Tears fell. Songs were sung. Respects were paid.

Everyone left with a bitter taste in their mouth and hollow pit in their stomach, silent as the very graves that surrounded them.

"Good-bye... Emerl," Shadow whispered, as he looked back one final time.

He lingered a second longer, seeing Donlan sitting in front of the grave, Brujaa standing next to him.

Shadow shook his head, sadly, and took his leave, letting the young heroes have some final moments with the lost friend.

Sage's Realm

Mystical figures, nine in number, stood around in a strange glowing ring. The Sages, all of them, had gathered there.

"Hora fugit...," Ben, the Star Sage, boomed, ominously.

"What'd he say?" Anne, the Water and Ice Sage asked, "I've forgotten the Old Language."

"The hour passes is what he said. Ben... speak in the New Language. The Old is worthless," Mal, the Shadow Sage said.

"The Countdown has begun," Ben said.

All the Sages nodded, grimly.

"We can no longer assist the heroes. They must walk their own path, unguided by us," Ben said.

"We've put this off for too long. The Opposites were sealed, this is true. But we haven't been able to destroy them," Mal said.

"Do you _want_ the Countdown, Mal?" Anne asked.

"Let's not fight, guys," Jericho said.

"No, _let's_," Rufio, Sage of Darkness, said, with malice.

"Rufio!" Maria, Sage of Light, barked.

Rufio growled, crossing his arms.

"Order!" Jericho roared.

"Yes, Order. That's what this is all about. The Countdown, as much as we despise its necessity, must take place. Order must be achieved. The Opposites are the only ones who can do that," Mal said.

"And our best efforts to stop them have failed...," Joseph, the Thunder and Lightning Sage, said.

"They have merely taken new forms...," Vogma, the Fire Sage, said.

"Hora... fugit...," Ben said, once more.

The Sages all nodded in finality, before they disappeared, back to keep their precious Order.

**THE END**


End file.
